Tortured Demigod
by DarkIsRising
Summary: Like ripples in a pond, the image distorts and twists before settling into a parody of what it once was.
1. Chapter 1

Sui here: I don't own Naruto or Ookami. I don't even own this idea, credit goes to the author Alaster Warhaven(I suggest his stories, he has some good stuff) and I have permission from him to use his idea. Just so you know this chapter is pretty much the same as Warhaven's first chpter with the divergence point being near the end of the chapter(with a few changes along the way). In case you're wondering, there will be eventual Naru/Hina. Why, you ask? Because I'm the author and I like that paring.

Chapter One: A God's Power Awakened

Run... Run was all he could do. All that he knew, Only 6 years old and Naruto Uzumaki was running for his life.

"Get him!"

"Kill HIM!"

"Don't let the Demon get away!"

The villagers... They were monsters; everyone but a few people in this village was a monster. At least to Naruto, at least to this innocent child; He'd never done anything to them.

He'd never stolen, never started a fight and never bullied the other children. He never even called anyone names without a reason.

Little Naruto ran as fast as he could. 'Almost there!' he thought. 'Almost home!' He was only a couple blocks from his apartment he repeated his mantra in hopes of out running the monsters.

"Almost there, almost there, almost-GAH!"

Naruto was almost to the steps leading to his room, but before he could put a foot on the first step, one of the villagers threw a meat cleaver at him. The blade flew through the air and buried itself into his thigh nearly severing his leg.

The monsters surrounded him, they laughed at him, ridiculed him, and now they'll kill him. The pain coming from his leg and the fear was too much as he fell unconscious.

They raised their weapons; pots, pans, kitchen knives, clubs, and old rusty swords. They struck down but before metal met flesh one of the villagers yelled "WAIT!" stopping them. The turned to the man with murder in there eyes.

"We not kill it here. Old monkey in tower kill us all if we kill here." The man looked like he was mad He was twitchy, wearing dirty torn rags for clothing, and had shaggy dirty knotted up black hair. One eye seemed to bug out while the other looked normal.

"Therese an old abandoned temple, yes, YES, ju-just outside the village in the forest! We kill it there! We make it pay it's BLOOD FOR OUR BLOOD!"

Normally the villagers would ignore the old madman but he was right. If they killed the demon here the Hokage would find out and find them. Then he'd kill them.

They put Naruto in an old garbage bag and fallowed the village lunatic.

(Old Temple)

When the villagers entered the temple with Naruto still in the bag, they couldn't help but start at it in awe. The inside was massive, so much so that it made the Hokage tower look like a porta-john.

The building it's self was open. No walls just pillars. In the back part of the building was a titanic sakura tree, though oddly shaped. The base where the roots grew was wide with a rope of sacred talismans tied around it as they looked up to the top the tree got thinner and thinner and then started to curl into a over curled "question mark" shape. The tree was over flowing with Sakura blossoms that fluttered through the air.

Right in front of the tree was a statue of a wolf. The statue was made of the purest white marble. The nose was made of obsidian and the eyes of topaz. The shoulders, hips, tail and ankles had beautiful swirling spikes mounted on them. But by far the most stunning features of the marble wolf were its markings.

All over its face, shoulders, fringes, sides, and back were deep crimson markings that rivaled even the best rubies. On its back was a large disk. The disk it's self was beautifully crafted with a depiction of flames on it; the flames were a beautiful, swirling mix of reds, oranges, yellows, blues, and turquoise. It was a wondrous site.

Below the statue was an inscription plated with gold and obsidian.

It read: "Here we worship the sun. Here we worship glorious Amaterasu, mother to us all and all there is. Savior from when our world was threatened by the unyielding darkness that was the demon lord Yami. My we praise her name for all eternity, and may our beautiful country of Nippon never see such darkness again."

"Nippon, Wasn't that the old name of the Elemental Continent?" one villager asked the leader of the mob. (A/N: No Konoha is not built were Kamiki use to be. But Kamiki is hidden in the forest somewhere.)

"Who cares?" the leader answered. "It's Just a old raggedy temple to one of the old Gods, Just a bunch of fairytale mumbo jumbo. Let's kill the demon and get out of here."

They took Naruto out of the garbage bag and tossed him in front of the statue.

(Meanwhile on the Celestial Planes)

A beautiful woman was pacing back and forth in a council room, she appeared to be distressed and on the verge of tears. She had pale peach colored skin, and long flowing white hair. Her lovely heart shaped face was marked with the same crimson lines as the marble wolf in the temple and on the top of her head was a pair of white wolf ears.

She wore a white kimono with crimson embroidery similar to the marks on the marble wolf. In the back of the kimono was a hole just above her buttocks for her white and crimson wolf tail to come out.

"You have to let me save him, please!" Okami Amaterasu cried tears flowing from her topaz colored eyes.

In front of her were 14 other gods, each with similar but far more simple looking red markings on their faces and white kimonos.

First was Yomigami, God of rejuvenation and restoration. He looked like a very tall old man, with a long sagely beard and long dragon horns sprouting from his head, and long thin mustache.

Next was Tachigami, god of war and blades. He was a small man with mouse ears on the top of his head, a Tachi (Large Sword) sheathed on his hip.

Next was the Hanagami triumvirate Sakigami, Hasugami, and Tsutagami, Gods of Flora. The triplets looked basically the same. They all wore tall skinny hats and had thick beards. The main differences were height and muscle mass. Sakigami was shortest and slightly pudgy. Hasugami was average height and weight, and Tsutagami was tall and muscular

Next was Bakugami, God of Explosive force, he was a large burly man with tusks growing out of his face and pig-like ears in place of human ones.

Next was Nuregami, Goddess of Water. She was tall and slender like her snake form, she had snake like eyes and had her jar of water tied to her wrist.

Next, was Yumigami, Goddess of the Moon. She was a small cute looking woman with a dangerous glint in her eyes. She had long rabbit ears on her head and she let her mochi mallet rest on her shoulder.

Next was Kazegami, God of Wind. He was a well-built man with an ornamental fan in his hand. He had a long face with horse ears atop his head and long mane of swirling hair.

Next was Moegami, God of Fire. His features were slightly different. His hair was a fiery red as apposed to the usual white of the others. He smoked an old fashion pipe, his phoenix wings folded against his shoulders and chest. His hair and beard were styled to vaguely resemble the comb and waddle of a rooster.

Next was Kasugami, Goddess of Mist. She has short wholly hair and sheep ears. She also had a death grip on a flask of sake and appeared to be drunk, though still alert.

Next was Kabegami, Goddess of Walls. She was also small but cute looking with cat like eyes and cat ears atop her head.

Next was Gekigami, God of Thunder and Lightening. He was a fierce looking man with crimson tiger stripe embroidery on his battle kimono. A large longbow was sheathed on his back and a quiver of lightening-bolts on his hip. His head was adorned with tiger ears.

And last was Itegami, God of Ice and Blizzards. He was a giant of a man with bull horns and ears. Tied around his shoulder was a very large conch shell that emitted a cool breeze.

Moegami stood from his seat and spoke in a respectful but annoyed tone. "We understand your concern but we cannot allow you to meddle in the affairs of mortals any longer. You were able to those many centuries ago because the world was threatened by Yami, Orochi and the other greater demons."

"But he's my son!" she cried again this time collapsing to her knees. Yomigami, Nuregami and Kabegami did there best to comfort her. Itegami the stood and spoke in a cold booming tone. "Than may be, but demigod or not he is also mortal and his power hasn't even awakened yet."

Amaterasu began to cry harder into her hands while Kabegami hugged her. "Please...he'll die! He's only six years old!" Amaterasu suddenly stood up fury burning in her eyes, Tendrils of white energy lashing out of her.

"You talk about evil and darkness when you just sit here and watch an innocent child get beaten to death." She charged at Moegami, grabbed him by the collar of his kimono and picked him up. "There were NINE demons out there including the new Kyuubi and you wouldn't lift a finger to help them! You just said 'these humans hold a new power, let them defend themselves' I nearly died when I fought the previous Kyuubi on Oni Island!" she pushed down and glared at the other gods.

"I agree with Amaterasu!" Yomigami yelled in a deep booming voice. "All we've done for the past few centuries is sit here!"

"HERE HERE!" the Hasugami Triumvirate exclaimed. This in turn caused brought all the gods into the argument; some for the Naruto's rescue others for continued isolation.

This continued for a few moments before the gathering felt a pulse of power unlike any they had felt for hundreds of years. They turned their eyes to the portal showing Naruto's impending death just in time to see what was happening.

(Old Temple of Okami Amaterasu)

The villagers were walking away from Naruto, having made sure that he wasn't breathing and his heart wasn't beating before leaving. However, as they were walking away, they felt a pulse of power accompanied by a huge burst of killing intent.

The villagers turned around in time to see what was happening. Naruto had a white aura around him, but it was quickly tainted with a deep black before the odd mixture erupted in a flash of light. When the light died down, in Naruto's place was a wolf that was about the size of a golden retriever. This wasn't what terrified the villagers though, what did was that the wolf's fur was pitch black and seemed to be absorbing the light like a void. It also had tufts of fur that swirled and spiked on its shoulders, hips, tail, and ankles as well as bloody red swirling and twisting marking covering its body. Its eyes were shining crimson and filled with bloodlust. To top it all off, the wolf creature had an odd disk hovering over it's back with an intricate carving of flames on it and with black and white fire spewing from the sides and flaring back, as though caught in the wind.

Before anyone could comprehend what had happened there was a sudden sense of deja vu. The villagers, who hadn't noticed the momentary lapse in time never knew what was coming before they all simultaneously split in two, as though cut by a giant blade horizontally.

(Back in the Celestial Plain)

The gathered gods were shocked to see Naruto's transformation and even more shocked to see the Kyuubi's power tainting him. As they watched they noticed that Naruto had stopped time in the usual fashion for using a brush technique and were all confused before Tachigami was engulfed in a dark aura that could only belong to the fox and when the aura died down there his power seemed oddly weakened. Feeling another pulse of power, the gods turned back to the portal in time to see Naruto use Tachigami's power to slice the villagers in two.

Everyone was completely silent before Yomigami spoke.

"What have we allowed to happen?" He intoned in a somber voice.

Sui: There, chapter one. Hope you all like it and if you don't, rest assured, your flames will be stored away and used to keep my house warm in the winter so I don't have to pay a heating bill.


	2. Chapter 2

Sui: I thank you all for the enthusiastic response to chapter one, but remember not all credit goes to me. The original idea blongs to Alaster Warhaven and the only things I changed in the first chapter were some spelling mistakes and every thing just after the gods started arguing( my stuff starts when they feel the pulse of power and turn to the portal, everything from that point on is pretty much mine.)

* * *

When Naruto awoke, the first thing he noticed was that he was laying face down in water and had no trouble breathing. As Naruto got up, he noticed that his reflection in the surface of the water and was shocked by the changes.

On his face were swirling, twisting markings that ran down his face, over his neck, and down under his shirt. His His eyes now had slit pupils and his hair had turned snow white with finger width streaks of black running through it randomly. His hands now had powerful claws in place of finger nails and on the back of his right hand, just under the first knuckle of his index finger, there was a tattoo like marking in the shape of a disk with flames spewing from the sides that flared back

Turning to look at his surroundings, Naruto saw that he was in a sewer like tunnel. the floor was solid concrete and the walls were made of steel plates that looked to be bolted together. The dim lights were scattered at seemingly random intervals and cast everything in a dim grey light. Along the ceiling there were four sets of pipes. The first had a slight white sheen, the second set was made of a black metal that seemed to suck in the surrounding light, the third set was cast a pale blue, and the fourth set was made of what seemed to be ordinary steel. The tunnel had no other paths that Naruto could see, and seeing as he didn't want to stay wherever he was forever, Naruto began to walk in the direction he was facing.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Naruto entered a massive room. The ceiling was so high up that Naruto couldn't see it and the wall opposite the enterance consisted solely of a titanic gate. Inside the gate a darkness unlike any that Naruto had ever seen. It seemed as thought no light could penetrate or escape it and it would devour anything that enters. Suddenly, two giant eyes opened on the other side of the gate.

**"Hehehe."** A demonic voice boomed from inside the gate, **"Finally, you're slow boy."**

"W-what are y-you?" Naruto stuttered out.

**"What am I? Ha! I am darkness incarnate, the stuff that nightmares are made of, a being second only to the high gods! I AM THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!"**The voice began softly and amused, but quickly filled with blood lust and rage.

"W-what, b-but you're dead. T-the Yondaime k-killed you!"

**"Ha, as if any mortal could kill me! I am a god and leader of the lesser dark gods, servant only to the high god of darkness, Yami. But that is irrelevant, I brought you here for a reason."**

"W-what!" The terrified six year old began to panic.

**"While no mortal can kill me, I can be sealed. Just in case you're pathetic mind can't comprehend, I was sealed into you by your precious Yondaime. But that too is not important, not directly at least. The reason I brought you here is to offer you a deal. I will teach you and help you gain power."**

"Why would I want something as evil to you to help me?" Naruto shouted in a burst of courage.

**"Because, boy, I am the only one who can help you get revenge on the gods who let you suffer through hells that even demons don't put each other through, including your bitch of a mother." **Kyuubi grinned as he baited the boy.

"What do you mean? I don't have any parents"

**"Everyone has parents, yours just abandoned you. You are unique, you are a demigod and your mother is the goddess of light Ookami Amateratsu. Your mother gave you over to the Yondaime to seal me into and then left you in that hell-hole Konoha to suffer! So much for a goddess of good! No god of darkness would ever leave one of our own to suffer as such, especially not at the hands of some pathetic mortals!"** Kyuubi said.

"How is that possible? My mother couldn't be a goddess." Naruto said, disbelieving.

**"Bah! Look at yourself! You bear the markings of Ookami Amateratsu, you have her hair, her features, and this is the kicker, you have her powers. Every sign points to you being her son and that she abandoned you at birth, cursing you as a being of the darkness after I was sealed in you."** Kyuubi pushed.

This sent Naruto deep into contemplation. He had always been hunted by the villagers, only being able to rely on the old man and the ramen stand owners, and even then they couldn't help him all the time. Then there was the strange markings that had appeared on his body, they were strangely reminiscent of the markings on the statue of the wolf in the temple he sometimes visited when he snuck out of the village. In addition, he had always felt that he was different from the other people of the village, though he had always suppressed that feeling, brushing it off as a side effect of the villagers actions towards him. The more Naruto thought, the more everything the Kyuubi had said made sense.

"If I were to agree, what do you get out of this? You wouldn't do this for no reason." Naruto said cautiously.

**"Getting more perceptive already, boy. You are right, I do get something out of this. You see, the being that bound me within you is very powerful, almost as powerful as my master, Yami. I will never be free of this prision, and as such, the lesser dark gods and kitsune will need a new leader. The way I see it, I can help you become powerful and get the revenge you deserve and the lesser dark gods and kitsune get a new, more powerful leader, you will take out the gods of light and steal all their power, and, most importantly, Yami will get a new second in command to help rule over this world when it is plunged into eternal darkness." **Kyuubi said, **"Think about it, you will gain ultimate power and get the revenge you so rightly deserve, and I will get peace of mind that my legacy Will be carried on and my brethren will have a strong leader. Think of it as a dying mans last wish."**

After several moments of internal debate, Naruto had come up with an answer.

"I accept, but you will have to tell me about these powers of the gods and light and dark gods stuff first, so I can understand the situation better," Naruto said with the beginnings of a smirk twisting his childish features.

**"Very well, I was planing to any way and it would be best to get this out of the way first," **Kyuubi said, it's smirk growing wider at having conviced the boy.

* * *

(Celstial Plain)

After Yomigami spoke the gathered gods burst into speech, some arguing that he should be killed before he becomes to dangerous and others arguing that he would never have become corrupted if they had been doing their jobs and had watch over the boy and humans properly instead of sitting in the celestial plain doing nothing and letting the humans forget their power and purpose.

"SILENCE!" Gekigami roared above the din of voices, silencing the other gods.

"We have aloud ourselves to become lax in our duties. The humans have all but forgotten our existence of just pass us off as 'the old gods' now. We need to take action and restore peace to the land, as we have done before and are supposed to do." Gekigami said.

"We have no reason too, the humans have the power to protect themselves from threats. They are even capable of defeating the lesser dark gods." Moegami argued back.

"Weather or not they have the power is not important. They lack the wisdom to guide themselves completely. In the few hundred years we have not interfered, they have brought themselves to the brink of extinction nearly three times, and that isn't counting the times they have been beset by demons and later the lesser dark gods." Yomigami said.

"Humph, they have free will for a reason you fools!" Itegami snarled.

"And we do not interfere with that, we simply inspire the good in them and help them defeat the enemies they can't handle." Kabegami said from her position comforting the shocked Amateratsu.

"Regardless, they can handle themselves!" Bakugami snorted.

"You would let the humans, and eventually the whole world fall into darkness for no reason." Amateratsu spoke for the first time since seeing Naruto's transformation, "You would forsake your reason for existing for nothing." Amateratsu's voice was laced with a quite venom that was unmatched by the deafening roar of Itegami or the piercing squeal of Bakugami or even the ear shattering cry of Moegami.

"You seem far changed from how you used to be. Itegami used to be willing to charge through hell for the sake of good. Bakugami used to slash and gore demons by the thousands, not even speaking of the ones he blew up with explosives unlike any other. And Moegami created deserts composed of the ashes of demons." Silence rang throughout the hall in the wake of Amateratsu's words.

"Leave. Leave and do not return you fallen gods of the light. You disgrace the name of the council of the gods of light. If you ever return, rest assured, I will destroy you in a fashion that would make Yami jealous," Amateratsu said in the same quite, venomous tone as before.

"You can't do this!" Itegami boomed, "We are the most powerful of the council!"

"Indeed you are, but I have forgotten for far too long that I only need the majority of the council to support me, not the most powerful, and I have that majority with me on the subject of your banishment." Amateratsu said, evoking murmurs of agreement from the rest of the gods, "Now be grateful that I am giving you the chance to leave and take my generous offer of banishment before I destroy you right here and now."

The trio of disgruntled gods looked like they would try to fight, but seeing that Amateratsu had the other eleven gods on her side, decided to leave for now and disappeared in various methods.

"Now to help Naruto," Nuregami said, trying to change the subject and relieave tension.

"That would be a problem," Yumigami spoke up, "The portal has gone black, he is being blocked from our sight by the dark gods, no doubt."

"What!" Amateratsu practically screeched as she hurried over to the portal again, only to confirm what Yumigami had said.

* * *

(With Naruto and Kyuubi)

**"I will start with a little history first."**Kyuubi began, **"Centuries ago, the Yamata no Orochi, a relatively high ranking demon but not powerful enough to be a god, tried to take over the Celestial Plane, the home of the gods of light. He almost succeded too, however, the goddess Amateratsu had escaped and, with the help of one of the people of the moon, prepared to defeat the creature and succeeded. Years later, Orochi returned, having been accidentally partially released by a human. Though not at full power, Orochi was still strong enough to awaken the rest of us. Amateratsu had perished, in a manner of speaking, in the last battle with Orochi and was revived by the tree sprit Sakuya. Amateratsu had lost all of her brush powers and most of her power during her hibernation and had to traverse the lands regaining them. She managed to defeat Orochi and went on to defeat the rest of the dark gods that had been awakened with the resurrection of Orochi, including the almighty god of darkness, Yami. Over the course of the next several centuries, the darkness regained power and I became the new Kyuubi. The gods of light have neglected their purpose and have allowed humanity to fall into chaos and darkness."**

"Why did they do that?"

**"I do not know, however, this means they have allowed for not only the creation of a new Kyuubi, they have also allowed for the restoration of the other lesser dark gods, better known to the humans as the biju. Even the Yamata no Orochi is gaining power again, but I digress. As for the godly powers, I meant that each of the gods of light have a special power referred to as a 'brush power'. These powers do different things and each god has one power unique to them. For example, I have managed to give you a pseudo version of the power of the Tachigami, the god of blades. With this power, you can slash through various objects, though it's not as powerful as the real power, which you will have to gain if you want to use the power, which is known as the Power Slash, at full strength."**

"What about the gods of darkness? And what do you mean by lesser gods and high gods?"

**"The lesser gods are sets of lower powered gods that serve and advise their respective high god. The high gods are beings of massive power. While humans might stand a chance against a lesser god with their new chakra, they would be crushed by a high god. The only high gods I have mentioned are Ookami Amateratsu and Yami, though there are several others, both dark and light and even a few that are neutral and only try to maintain a balance between good and evil."**

"And my powers?"

**"You, as the son of Amateratsu, have inherited the power to use brush abilities, though since you have me in you you will be able to use both celestial brush powers and dark brush powers. However, since the celestial gods would be undoubtably unwilling to help you, you will have to challenge them for the right to use their powers. Each god has a different challenge you must pass should you challenge them for their powers and if you succeed, you will gain true access to the power they have, which will consequently lower the amount of celestial ink, a divine ink used for brush powers, and make the ability stronger than if it was copied, like the Power Slash I gave you. I, and the other dark gods, have powers that we will teach you when you become strong enough to use them, but as you are now, you could only use Power Slash about twice a day and it happens to be a low cost power."**

"Ok, so how do I challenge these gods?"

**"You must find their temples and call out your full divine name and that you challenge them for the right to use their power. They will have to respond and they can't refuse the challenge or you will gain the power by default. However, you will have to get stronger first and then I would suggest that you go after either Yomigami, the god of rejuvenation, or Tachigami, as they are among the weakest of the gods. Now, we have spent enough time talking. I will return you to consciousness and put you on the right path. Any other instruction on the use of your newly awakened powers will have to be on the go."**

With that, Naruto was blasted out of the room by a tsunami of dark energy.

* * *

Naruto suddenly came back to his senses to realize that he was far from the temple he remembered being in and that his body was vastly different than before.

_'What? Why am I a wolf? How do I change back? Can I change back?!'_Naruto thought, beginning to panic slightly at the thought of never being able to assume a human form again.

**'Relax, boy. This is simply your celestial form. It is as easy as willing yourself to return to human form to turn back. Though this form has unique uses in combat and is far superior to your human form physically.'**

Naruto jumped slightly at the Kyuubi's voice in his head, but quickly focused on turning back and, in a flash of light, was returned to the form he had seen himself in when he spoke to the Kyuubi.

**'To save you the trouble of trying to figure out a way to conceal how you look, only a select few can see you as you currently are or see your true form in your celestial form. All others will see you as you were before your powers awoke and, in your celestial form, see only an ordinary dog. The reason being that many have lost their faith in the gods and can no longer realize who they are when they see them, so their minds warp what they see into something they can believe.'**

_'Ok, now where too?'_

**'Simple. You must become stronger, and to do that you must train and gain more brush powers. I will not teach you brush powers untill I think you ready, so your only choice is to gain them from your mother's associates.'**

_'Don't call her that, she is no mother of mine.'_

With that Naruto began moving in a random direction, trusting his instincts to not let him down, as they have always been right in the past.

* * *

Sui:Whew, that is the fastest I have ever cranked out a chapter. Sorry for the lack of action this chapter, but I needed to get some explaining in and set the story on its path so I can get to the good stuff. All in all, I hope you like it and that I continue to get this excellent reaction from readers, though I will continue regardless, it gives me a will to write more and faster. For those of you interested, Naruto's personality will be a little odd at times as he has conflicting instincts from both the celestial powers he was born with and the dark taint of Kyuubi's power. Ok, now to answer some reviews, I will do this every chapter from now on.

Nulled Lucied: Thank you for the nice review and those extra hadoken flame will help keep me nice and tosty this winter.

Dragon Man 180: Sorry, but Naruto is going to be a little dark for awhile, so he won't be on good terms with them for some time now.

Oddity: I'm not to sure what you meant by use the originals, but thank you for the positive review anyway.

foxgodess07: No, Kabegami is in the game and has an power that is needed to beat the game.

Leaf Ranger: I am honored that you have such an enthusiastic response to this. I have read your story Demon Dragon Rider and it is one of the better stories I have read, so I am excited to get such a good respose out of you.

Hee-Ho Master: Yes, yes they have. And thank you for the review.


	3. Chapter 3

Sui: OK, chapter three. Thank you all for the continued amazing response and hope you all like this chapter as much as the first two.

* * *

(???)

Naruto walked with the loping stride he had gained after unlocking his celestial powers down the well worn path. It had been five years since he had unlocked his powers and sworn vengeance against those responsible for his suffering and he was finally ready to begin his plan to destroy all those who had hurt him. He had grown to a respectable five foot four inches, rather tall for an eleven year old, and had become slightly lanky and lean, much like a wolf. His godly powers had also advanced to the level where some of his celestial features could be seen by normal people, such as the black streaks that ran through his hair and the tattoo like markings of his sealed celestial weapons that were on the back of his right hand. He wore steel blue shinobi style pants, black combat boots, a dull grey long sleeved shirt, and steel blue fingerless gloves. He was heading down the path to Konoha to become a Konoha shinobi. As unusual as this seemed, it had a perfectly reasonable point, of course.

_'Remind me again why I am doing this.'_

**'If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you know the outcome of a thousand battles. Knowledge can, at times, be more powerful than any technique. Just in case your puny mind can't comprehend, you are learning their weaknesses and using them to get stronger at the same time. If you join them for a time, you will learn how to defeat them, and to defeat Amateratsu and the remainder of her associates, you must defeat Konoha first.' **Kyuubi replied.

_'Doesn't mean I have to like it'_

**'There will be many things in life you will have to do that you don't like. Learn to live with it.'**

Naruto's conversation with his inner demon-god fell silent as he approached the gates of the village he hates with every fiber of his inhuman body. To avoid confrontation until after he had seen the Sandaime, Naruto stopped time to use a brush technique, shuddering at the odd out of body feeling he got whenever he did so, and warped himself into an alley inside the village, smirking back at the chunin as he shook himself awake at the odd feeling of deja vu he suddenly had. Naruto rarely used this power though, as it required that he was at full ink and consumed it all, leaving him unable to use most of his brush techniques for the rest of the day due to lack of ink.

Naruto's walk to the Hokage tower was, all in all, rather uneventful and boring. The villagers didn't even recognize him with all the changes he had undergone in his five year absence. Arriving at the Hokage tower, Naruto waltzed in, still remembering his way around the tower as he had spent a great deal of time there when he was younger. Naruto knocked on the door to the Hokage's office, receiving an "Enter" from a familiar voice. Naruto walked into the office, smirking at the reaction he was going to get from the old man.

Looking up from his paper work, the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was shocked for the first time in years.

"N-naruto?" Sarutobi said as his pipe dropped from his gaping mouth.

"The one and only jiji." Naruto grinned.

"What happened to you? You disappeared five years ago with no trace. I had thought you were dead."

"Nope, I was just doing some traveling." Naruto practically chirped out.

"Traveling? Why, and how did you disappear like that?" The old Sarutobi asked.

"You had better stay sitting, and maybe pick up your pipe before it sets your paper work on fire, because this is a long story."

Naruto related what had happened the night he disappeared, conveniently leaving out the deal with the Kyuubi and the awakening of his celestial powers, though he told him about meeting the Kyuubi.

"Why didn't you tell me old man, I had a right to know I that I am the container of the most powerful of the biju." Naruto stated solemnly.

"I'm sorry, but I keept the knowledge from you for your own safty."

"My safety? How is concealing such an integral part of who I am 'for my own safety'?" Naruto asked, seething slightly.

The Sandaime had no response to this and hurried to change the subject before Naruto's anger grew.

"So, what are you going to do now that you're back in Konoha?"

"I intend to become an shinobi, if at all possible, and don't think that I have forgotten about your lack of an answer." Naruto stated.

Sarutobi cringed at the slightly scathing tone Naruto switched to at the end of his sentence, "It is still possible for you to become a shinobi. If you like, I will enroll you in a class with others your age and this class also happens to be graduating this year as well."

"Ok, when will I start?"

"Today if you want. I will give you a note that you are to give to the secretary at the front desk in the academy and she will assign you a class room."

"Nah, I think I'll start tomorrow, to give myself a chance to get reacquainted with the village. Besides class would probably be almost over for the day anyway." Naruto said

"Now that we have delt with that, we need to get you a house."

"Already covered jiji." Naruto said offhandedly.

"Where will you be living?" The Sarutobi asked with a raised eyebrow as to how Naruto had already acquired lodging.

"I lived out in the wild for five years. I am more than capable of doing so for awhile longer and am more comfortable in nature anyway." Naruto said

"I'm sorry Naruto, but you need a permenate address. Once you become a shinobi, we will need an address on file that we can reach you at in case of emergency or for important missions."

After a few moments of contemplation, Naruto came up with a solution.

"OK, how about we compromise. Get me a house in the forest and you will get the permanent address you want and I get to live in nature." Naruto reasoned.

"Very well, I suppose I can come up with something. However, setting everything up will take several hours, so you will need to return at about three in the afternoon."

"No problem, I need to get reacquainted with the village anyway." Naruto grinned as he got up and left the office, planning on wandering around until he was needed again.

* * *

(Celestial Plain)

"Any word of him yet?" Amateratsu asked Gekigami.

"I'm sorry, my lady, but he is still blocked to our sight, even after attaining several of our powers." The large, tiger like man replied solemnly.

"First his existence was concealed from me, then, when I finally learn that he really is still alive, he is taken from me again." Amateratsu said, almost breaking down into tears.

"We will find him, my lady, don't worry." Gekigami consoled.

"He's right, Ammy." Yumigami said, "We are among the most powerful of the gods of light, the dark gods can't hide him from us forever."

"Even if we do find him, which seems rather unlikely, he has probably been tainted by the dark gods and taught to hate us all." Amateratsu despaired.

"I'm sure that once the truth is revealed to him, he will reconsile with you." Yomigami said.

"Maybe." Amateratsu said despondently, not quite believing the others.

* * *

(Streets of Konohagakure no Sato)

_'Finnally, I don't have to keep up the act for that senile old monkey for a while.' _Naruto thought to himself.

**'A necessary act to keep him from discovering your true intent. If he were to find out that you only intend to join the shinobi forces to scope out their weaknesses, he would destroy you. You are growing more powerful, but you still aren't even close to strong enough to kill the old man.'**

_'So what to do now?'_Naruto asked rhetorically, _'I guess I'll get some equipment for my new profession and then I'll find a secluded training ground.' _He finished, answering his own question.

At this, Naruto began heading towards the market district, the villagers still taking no notice of him.

_'Humph, it's only been five years and I haven't changed that much and they still don't recognize me. Pathetic. Though I can use this in my favor, I suppose, as they won't try to overcharge me for sub par equipment if they don't remember who I am.'_

By the time Naruto had finished his inner tirade, he had reached the bustling market district. After the Kyuubi attacked, the villages economy had plummeted as they focused on maintaining a strong front and rebuilt the village. However, now eleven years later, the economy had recovered to the point that it was as though the attack had never happened.

Making his way through the crowd, Naruto searched for a shinobi supply store. This being a shinobi village, Naruto found several rather quickly; however, the shops stocked clearly low quality items. Kunai that would, undoubtedly, break easily in the field, armor that offered very little protection and weighed far more than it should. The stores were obviously scams meant to attract fresh genin who had yet to realize the reality of their chosen profession.

After passing by nearly a half dozen such shops, Naruto noticed that the crowd began to thin out until only a few people were walking about here and there. The shops here didn't have the gaudy decorations that many of the others he had seen did and, if the displays were anything to go by, these stores sold only shinobi equiptment, and high quality equipment too. Randomly picking a non descript store, Naruto entered one of the stores.

Upon entering, Naruto saw that the store was stocked wall to wall with the highest quality equipment he had ever seen produced by a human. Upon hearing the door bell ring, the twelve year old girl looked up from the book she was reading and was greeted by one of the most unusual sights she had ever seen. There was a boy, about one year younger than her, wearing odd clothes, that had streaks of black running through his white tinted golden-blond hair and had faint red markings on his face that ran under his clothes and, she assumed, continued across the rest of his body. However, upon blinking, the off white tint in his hair and the faint red markings had disappeared as though they were never there and she brushed it off as seeing things.

"Excuse me, may I help you." She asked in her best shop keep voice.

His head snapped around and he stared at her for a moment before replying.

"I'm looking for the best equipment that money can buy, I'm going to become a shinobi and need some supplies."

"Well, you came to the right place. We sell the highest quality stuff in the village and it's all forged right here in the shop, so we guarantee the quality of the product. So, what do you want?" The girl asked, with pride at first then shifting to a questioning tone near the end.

"I will need a set of kunai, a set of shurikan, several lengths of nin-wire, thirty exploding tags, and a new set of armor, light weight and durable but still able to block attacks." Naruto stated after some thought.

After gathering the neccesary items, the girl rung up the total.

"That will be 79,050 ryo." She said. (AN: I don't know the conversion rate to ryo so I'm just using the American dollars to yen conversion rate.)

Naruto pulled the money out of the small pouch that rested at his hip, took his items, and began to leave.

_'I have an odd feeling about this guy.'_ The girl at the counter thought to herself as she once again saw a flash of white tint in his hair.

* * *

Sui: Sorry this took so long, life has been hectic recently and only just calmed down. OK, enough of my rattling off excuses, on to the review ansewering portion.

A.D. Sargent: You're right, I didn't notice the simliarities until you pointed them out, guess I've been reading too much dark Naruto.

Dragon Man 180: The gods can refuse Naruto's challenge, but they won't. If they refuse his challenge, it counts as an automatic loss on their part, and Naruto gets thier power without having to earn it. In addition, don't expect every god's challenge to be a fight, I'm not that lacking in imagination.

Zero H Gundam: No, this won't be a Sailor Moon cross over. What I meant is that, in the game, their was a race of technologicaly advanced people that lived on the moon and inadvertantly brought about their own destruction. Only one, two if you count the bamboo girl to be one of them, of that race survived and he helps Amateratsu at any chance he gets as much a possible.

P5yCH0: No, not quite like that. His reactions will be based on something far more realistic. He will be much less forgiving, much more evil, cruel, and other such things and it won't be quite so easy for him to become good as it is in some stories.


	4. Chapter 4

Sui: Yo. Sorry for the wait, real life is catching up with me and I had to spend some time running faster to get away. Thank you for your support, I actually got the inspiration to write this by reading through some old reviews for this story.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto Sasuke and Sakura would be dead and Naruto would be the most badass character ever. If I owned Ookami I would be bathing in money.

* * *

Nearly a year had passed since Naruto had returned to the village, it was only a week before graduation, and his regard for humans had only dropped in his time around them. The foolish villagers had decided to attack him shortly after he had returned, something he quickly ended when everyone who went to attack him mysteriously "disappeared". His time spent in the academy had only served to further lower his opinion of humans.

There were several people of note, and almost none of them would survive their first real mission at their current level. Inuzuka Kiba was an arrogant hot head that would most likely rush into battle and be cut down by a superior opponent.

Yamanaka Ino was too focused on her looks to properly train, conveniently ignoring the fact that proper training would help her figure more than dieting would, and, like many of the clan member students, relied far too heavily on her clan jutsu.

Haruno Sakura was a pink haired, bitchier, and weaker version of Ino, she would probably die on her first C-rank.

Uchiha Sasuke had gotten used to having everything handed to him on a silver platter after his clan was destroyed and was arrogant and self centered.

Akamichi Chouji was probably the first decent human in the class, he spent too much time eating and not enough training, but at least he had a better mindset than most of the others.

Nara Shikamaru was lazy as hell, but was a devastating genius, with a little training he would be a powerful shinobi.

Aburame Shino was almost as good at concealing his emotions as Naruto, but that was to be expected from an Aburame. He had the proper mindset for a shinobi and had a good grasp of what would be needed of him and was as prepared as one could get for the future he had chosen.

Hyuuga Hinata was by far the most paradoxical human he had ever met. She showed absolutely no trace of the evil that he can usually see tainting humans auras, even in the best of humans there is a trace of evil, and seemed more suited to a quiet life style rather than that of a shinobi. He could sense that she would sometimes follow him, though she had no malice in her actions as most in the village would, but let her do so, only losing her when he needed to do real training.

Of the remains of the class, no one had the proper skill or mindset to potentially become a shinobi. As for the teachers, Mizuki fairly radiated an aura of hatred and evil, most of it directed at Naruto, and Iruka, while he was wary at first, seemed to at least tolerate him. The classes were pathetic, teaching things he had learned long ago, having learned numerous things from both the Kyuubi and from the occasional wandering, or perhaps they were missing, nin. Over all, none of what they were teaching would really help in the shinobi world, except perhaps the kawamari

* * *

_Fastforward to the genin exams_

"OK class, today you will be taking the genin exam. The exams consist of several parts, including a written test, which you will take first, a taijutsu spar against either Mizuki or myself, a genjutsu test, and a ninjutsu test." Iruka explained once the class had quieted down, "Mizuki will hand out the written test and you will have an hour to complete it beginning once all the tests are handed out."

* * *

_After the exam_

The tests they had given were pathetic. The written test could have been passed by a squirrel, the taijutsu portion was a farce, the genjutsu they had used was so weak that the natural flow of his chakra had swept it away, and the ninjutsu they tested was completely useless. Seriously, most shinobi can't even use the standard bushin unless they are running pathetically low on chakra once they reach mid-chunin level.

"Naruto." Mizuki said in an unnaturally friendly tone.

"What." Naruto nearly snapped in response.

"Due to how well you did in the exams, you are being offered a rare opportunity. You will be given an additional test and if you pass, you will automatically be given chunin rank."

Naruto could tell the man was lying, but decided to go along with it for now. If worse comes to worse, he could just sic the Sandaime on Mizuki and it would be over and done with.

"Really now. What sort of test is this?" Naruto said, faking curiosity.

* * *

_Where ever that falling over shack in the forest is_

Naruto was copying the contents of the scroll to a spare scroll as quickly as he could, he wasn't worried about the Sandaime finding out as the Kyubi had said it would use an illusion that would make the Sandaime see him simply waiting in the clearing. After Mizuki had been stupid enough to ask him to steal the forbidden scroll, he had gone to the Sandaime and told him of Mizuki's treachery. From there, it was easy to manipulate the old man into letting him take the scroll and catch Mizuki in the act, then capture him and send him to be Ibiki's new playmate.

Naruto rolled up the scroll as he sensed Mizuki approaching.

"Good job Naruto. Now give me the scroll and show me the technique you learned and you'll be promoted."

"I really wonder how people can be so stupid some times." Naruto said off handedly, "I am not stupid enough to believe that the academy would have fresh genin steal a scroll from the Hokage's office, especially one called the forbiden scroll, and learn a jutsu from it. Now all I have to do is beat the shit out of you and you get to go to Ibiki, I assure you that you will be well taken care of."

"Ha, as if you could beat me demon!" Mizuki said, dropping the act.

"If I really was the Kyubi, yes that's right I know about it, then I would simply unleash my chakra and you would be nothing more than ash. As is, your fate isn't going to be much better."

With that, Naruto once again called upon his celestial powers, not wanting to play with the chunin so he could go home and get some sleep. The world appeared as no more than a scroll with a zoom in on where he and Mizuki were. Picking up the brush that always had ink on it, despite the lack of an ink well, Naruto began drawing. With a single, horizontal line through Mizuki's mid thighs, Naruto let go of the power. As time resumed, Mizuki swore that it was deja-vu, at least before he began to scream in agony at the fact that his legs, from mid thigh down, had been separated from the rest of his body.

* * *

_The team assignments_

The students continued to make fools of themselves. Kiba trying to challenge everyone, Ino and Sakura arguing over who go to sit next to Sasuke, who was simply sitting there brooding, and so on and so forth.

The class quieted down as Iruka entered the room.

"Today you become shinobi of the village..."(insert the speech that you have read through a thousand times about what it means to be a shinobi, I'm not going to waste my time with it).

"Now on to team assignments.(I'm only going to do the teams that matter). Team seven consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto." There was a collective screech from the fangirls of the class as to why they weren't on a team with their "precious" Sasuke.

"Team eight will be Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Haruno Sakura. Team ten will be Nara Shikamaru, Akamichi Chouji, and Yamanaka Ino." Iruka rattled off, getting a simultaneous screech from Ino and Sakura about their teams.

"Your sensei's will be here shortly."

With that, Iruka escap- I mean left the class before he could be attacked by the numerous fangirls that were seething at not being put on the same team as Sasuke.

Shortly after Iruka left, a tall man wearing the standard jonin attire, with the addition of a loin cloth style piece of clothing, and a woman who appeared to be wearing clothing made of giant strips of medical gauze, entered the room.

The man spoke first, "Team ten with me."

After they left the woman spoke up, "Team eight with me."

* * *

_Fastforward three hours_

"..."

"..."

"..."

Naruto was sitting quietly, reviewing the techniques he could use that would maim, but not kill, his sensei. Sasuke was still brooding in his dark corner of broodyness. And Hinata was poking her index fingers together while sneaking glances at Naruto, who would occasionally look back at her just for the look on her face.

_'Jeez, if Sasuke doesn't lighten up he may get lost in his own aura of darkness, and the little Hyuga girl is likely to suffer a heart attack if I look at her while she's looking at me a few more times.'_

Just as Naruto finished his train of thought, the door opened and a tall man with gravity defying silver hair stepped in.

"Damn, did your hair not get the message? Gravity pulls you down, not up."(Three guesses as to who said that)

"My first impression of you... I don't like you. Meet me on top of the roof in five minutes." The silver haired jonin said before disappearing.

_'That bastard.'_ (You'll get it in a few moments)

* * *

_On top of a roof several blocks from the academy._

"You know I hate you, right?" Naruto said as he arrived, "You show up three hours late, and you don't even come to get us yourself, you send a damn kage bushin to do it for you."

Before Kakashi could reply, Sasuke and Hinata araived. Sending a look at Naruto, Kakashi began to speak.

"OK, now that you're all here, let's begin with some introductions."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"OK... How about I start then. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I am a jonin, what I like... I don't really have any dislikes. As for my dream for the future... I have lots of hobbbies. Now, how about you go, blondie."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like very few things, I dislike many things. Dreams for the future... (Naruto grins maliciously here) I have lots of hobbies." Naruto finnished, mocking Kakashi's introduction.

"... OK, on to mister sunshine!" Kakashi said.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I have no likes and many dislikes. My dream is not a dream, but an ambition... There is someone I must kill..."

"OK, now for miss mouse-y."

"A-a-ano... My n-name is Hyuuga H-hinata. I l-like pressing flowers a-a-and... I d-d-dislike a-arrogant people w-who judge people t-they don't know. M-my d-d-ream is to b-b-become a s-s-strong leader for the H-hyuuga." (I really hate that stutter... It's going away soon.)

_'Great. I got the worlds most enigmatic and sarcastic jinchuriki, the worlds most emo Uchiha, and the worlds only shy Hyuuga... Just great, one more team failed.'_

"Well then, I think now is a good time to tell you something. None of you are actually genin yet, I will be administering a survival exorscise that will determine if you really have what it takes to be a shinobi. Meet me at training ground seven tomorrow at six A.M. Oh, and I don't suggest that you eat breakfast, if you don't want to throw up that is." With that Kakashi disappeared in the signature poof of smoke for shushin.

* * *

Sui: Uh... Sorry for taking so long on such a short chapter, but such is the time consuming act of job searching. Hope you like and sorry for it seeming so rushed and having so little action, this should be the last chapter before the action starts.


	5. Chapter 5

Sui: Yeah, Sorry this took so long to get out. I was having trouble with the begining and suffering from writers block with this story, but once I got past that, I flew through this chapter. On the subject of suffixes. I will be using them from now on (they add to the word count and I like them).

* * *

"…"

"…"

"…"

Kakashi appeared in the poof of smoke that entails a typical shushin… Three hours late.

"… If you are always going to be late, I'm going to start making your life hell." Naruto deadpanned.

Kakashi eye-smiled nervously. "That's nice. Now to get on with the test."

Kakashi pulled two silver bells from his nin-pouch and tied them to his waist.

"Your goal is to get a bell from me. Those who get a bell will pass the test and become ninja. Those who don't will be tied to the log and forced to watch as his or her teammates eat lunch."

At that, Kakashi heard a low grumble from Sasuke's stomach.

"Ha! Told you that you should have accepted my offer of food." Naruto gloated, causing Kakashi to sweat-drop.

"OK. Come at me with the intent to kill. The test begins now!"

Sasuke and Hinata disappeared into the tree line while Naruto faced Kakashi.

"Not going to hide? That's not very bright."

"The point of the test is to get the bells. As such, hiding is useless. I could hide in the trees all day and all you would have to do is stand where you are and wait for me to attack. Besides, I've never fought a Jonin and want to test myself while I wait."

Kakashi merely raised his visible eyebrow as Naruto dashed towards him at surprising speeds. Naruto went in for a sweep kick to Kakashi's feet that Kakashi simply jumped over before coming down with a spinning heel drop. Naruto leaped to the side before going back in, moving low along the ground in a manner reminiscent of the Inuzuka's fighting style. Naruto tried to sweep Kakashi's legs out from under him again.

"It didn't work the first time and won't work the second time." Kakashi said, hypocritically using a spinning heel drop again.

Kakashi was surprised as Naruto moved just enough for the heel drop to brush by him before attempting to uppercut Kakashi. Kakashi used his heel drop to push himself into a back flip, just narrowly dodging the punch. Kakashi suddenly felt and odd sensation of deja-vu before his danger sense went off telling him to move quickly. Kakashi just managed to move in time as a large gash was carved into the ground where he had stood no more than a second ago.

"I've never seen anything like that before. Care to tell me what you did?"

"Sorry, Kakashi-san no can do. Call it a clan technique if it helps, but I'm not going to reveal how I do some of the things I do." Naruto said, charging back at Kakashi, moving even faster than before.

Kakashi, deciding he had played with his student long enough, attacked. Naruto dodged the punch and rolled to the side to get out of the way of the knee Kakashi brought up. Kakashi went in for a straight punch, only to have his fist meet a large spinning disk that redirected his momentum. Kakashi quickly moved back, seeing that the disk had disappeared just after he hit it.

"Another clan technique?" Kakashi questioned.

"Yeah, you could say that."

A large bomb appeared as Kakashi felt another deja-vu sensation. Kakashi replaced himself with a log and looked around to see that his student had disappeared.

_Scene Change_

'_Damn it. How can that dobe be keeping up with a jonin?'_ Sasuke seethed.

A hand covered Sasuke's mouth as he was quickly dragged away from the field.

"OK, now that we are all here, we can begin." Naruto spoke.

"What the hell do you want dobe?"

"The real test is a test of teamwork. Think about it. Have you ever heard of a team with only two genin outside of war? No, you haven't, and not just because you don't study enough either, Sasuke. Kakashi-san has set us up so that we would have to overcome our own desire to win to benefit the whole by having two bells and telling us that the only way to pass is to get a bell."

"Keh. I don't need you or that wimpy Hyuuga to get a bell; I can get one on my own and pass." Sasuke leapt away, intent on finding Kakashi and proving his vaunted 'Uchiha superiority'.

"Well, looks like it's just us Hinata-san." Naruto said, the girl's face turning a cherry red as she just barely managed to stay conscious.

_Scene Change_

Sasuke charged Kakashi with a high kick. Kakashi caught his kick with one hand and Sasuke changed momentum to kick Kakashi with is other leg, which was also caught. The arrogant Uchiha smirked as he grabbed for the bells at Kakashi's waist, prompting Kakashi to drop him and leap back. Seeing his chance, Sasuke ran through several hand seals before taking a deep breath.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu."

As the flames died down, they revealed a scorched patch of ground and no Kakashi. Suddenly, a pair of hands shot out of the ground and pulled Sasuke into the earth up to his neck before Kakashi emerged from his hiding place.

"You really shouldn't try to attack a jonin head on like that. Being arrogant may just kill you one day."

"If that dobe could keep up with you, then so can I. You must have been going easy on him if he managed to last against you as long as he did." Sasuke sneered.

"Actually, I was having a much harder time with Naruto-san than I did with you. It's clear that he is miles ahead of you in terms of skill and power." Kakashi said before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

_Scene Change_

Kakashi was standing in the same clearing he had fought Naruto in when the same recurring sense of deja-vu he'd had fighting Naruto suddenly assaulted him again, prompting him to leap back and look around for Naruto, just in time for another trench to carve itself in the ground where he had stood only seconds ago.

"You know, you shouldn't show your trump card to an opponent more than once, it means that they can figure out a way around it. By now, I figured that every time you use those odd jutsu of yours that makes things happen or appear, I get a sense of deja-vu and my danger sense flares." Kakashi said to the tree line.

"The problem with that, Kakashi-san, is that I haven't even come close to using my trump card of unusual abilities yet." Naruto's voice rang from behind Kakashi as he came in for another sweep kick to the feet that Kakashi forward flipped over, twisting while in the air to land facing Naruto.

Naruto charged forward once more, this time attempting a flying round house that Kakashi caught with one hand. In a manner that reminded Kakashi of Sasuke's attempt at the bells only minutes ago, Naruto supported himself on Kakashi's hand and brought in his other foot for a kick at the side, turning him almost upside down as Kakashi caught his other foot in his other hand. Deviating from the path Sasuke took; Naruto produced two kunai from his sleeves and lashed out at Kakashi's thighs in what would be a potentially fatal hit. Kakashi quickly dropped Naruto, who righted himself and landed in a crouch on his feet, and leapt back, only to feel two small hands brush against the back of his thighs, causing him to loose all feeling in his legs. The same small hands quickly brushed against his shoulders, robbing him of his arms as well. Craning his head, Kakashi saw the shy Hyuuga that he had thought would not have attacked at all during the test.

"Well damn, I didn't expect that." Kakashi said, turning his head to look back at Naruto who took the bells from his waist.

"And that is why it worked." Naruto replied, moving over to the three stumps embedded in the ground and sat, gesturing for Hinata to do the same. Just as the red faced Hinata sat down, the bell on the timer rang.

It took only minutes for Sasuke, who had miraculously managed to dig himself out of his hole, to arrive. Sasuke was enraged too see Kakashi sprawled on the ground, his limbs askew, as his other two teammates sat calmly, or in Hinata's case, nervously, by the stumps with the bells that were formerly tied to Kakashi's waist.

"Oh come on, please." Kakashi pleaded with his blond student.

"No. Maybe this will teach you to not be three hours late to a meeting that you set the time for." Naruto said, obviously annoyed with his sensei's tardiness.

"How the hell did you two idiots get the bells?" Sasuke seethed, enraged that the two teammates he had deemed useless had managed to do what he couldn't.

It was Kakashi who spoke up. "Simple, Sasuke. They use the basis of this test to catch me off guard and incapacitate me and take the bells. From what Naruto-san has told me, and Hinata-san has confirmed this, they tried to get you to work with them, but you refused, saying that they were worthless and that you could get a bell on your own. As you can see, even when Naruto-san couldn't get a bell on his own, he was more than enough to distract me from Hinata-san sneaking up on me to jyuuken the hell out of me." Kakashi said, getting a blush from the timid Hyuuga at his last comment.

"They must have cheated somehow." Sasuke insisted.

"No. They got the bells fair and square and, from their performance, I can tell they would go far as shinobi." Kakashi said sternly, hoping to get the point across to the petulant Uchiha. "Now, I am going to pass this team, but remember, it is only due to the teamwork and potential Naruto and Hinata showed that this team is passing, Sasuke. You will learn to work with and respect your teammates, or you will end up dead on a battlefield one day. Now, if you would, Hinata-san, I need to go prepare my report for Hokage-sama."

Hinata quickly got up and, with the lightest of touches, restored movement and feeling to Kakashi's limbs.

"Keh, that must be how they got the bells. The dobe had the little Hyuuga bitch seduce you into giving the bells." Sasuke said.

As soon as Sasuke finished his sentence, a large amount of killing intent flared up from Naruto, causing Sasuke to nearly soil himself and breakdown into tears. Before anyone could process what had happened, Naruto had a massive sword at Sasuke's neck. The large blade was segmented into seven equal parts. The sword also radiated an almost otherworldly aura.

"If you ever imply that Hinata-san is a bitch, or any other _unsavory_ term again, your head will roll." Naruto spoke in a deadly calm voice that promised pain and death.

"Now, now Naruto-san, I'm sure Sasuke won't make any such mistake of insulting the Heiress of the Hyuuga clan again." Kakashi said in a placating tone and emphasizing Hinata's status before turning to Sasuke. "And, Sasuke, insulting the people who will be making sure you don't die on a mission is not a good idea. I can always drop you from the ninja program and get these two a new teammate who knows how to work together." Kakashi said, his tone indicating that any argument would be unacceptable.

'**Now Naruto, that was a very chivalrous thing to do.'** Kyuubi said, almost questioningly.

'_Don't get me wrong. I don't really like the human race as a whole, but Hinata-san is the ONLY human I have ever seen with a pure white aura and, as such, she does not deserve to be lumped in with the rest of the maggots that make up the human race.'_ Naruto replied grumpily as he resealed the Nana Sutoraiku with a dull flash of light.

"Now, if you will excuse me, as I said, I need to prepare my report for Hokage-sama." Kakashi said before disappearing in a shushin.

Sasuke, who had barely managed to regain his composure, let out a monosyllabic grunt of disgust and stalked off to brood over the events of the test. Naruto glared at the spot Sasuke had stood on just moments ago before leaving to train off his anger. Hinata, who had just managed to break out of her shock at Naruto's violent defense of her honor, looked around to realize that everyone had already left and decided to go off into the forest to gather herbs.

_Scene Change_

"Now that you all gathered, report. How did the prospective genin hopefuls do?" the Sandaime asked.

"Team one, fail."

"Team two, fail."

"Team three, dropped from program."

"Team four, currently stable, formerly in critical condition."

"Team five, failed."

"Team six, epic failure."

Everyone looked expectantly at Kakashi, who, for the first time in some time, wasn't reading his book while he waited to fail his team.

"Team seven, tentative pass." Kakashi said, getting gasps from some of the gathered shinobi, others attempting to dispel any genjutsu.

"Explain yourself Kakashi-san." Sarutobi said.

"I used my standard bell test. The first to engage me was Naruto-san, who offered a very logical reason to not hide and just fight me right off the bat. He did surprisingly well. His taijutsu is much better than his report says, at least mid-chunin level over all. Though he did use several unique abilities that he refused to explain. I was actually hoping you could explain them to me Hokage-sama."

"Sadly, Kakashi-san, I can't explain the unusual abilities Naruto-kun displays. Whenever I ask, he either evades the question or brushes it off, citing that I can call it a clan jutsu if I like. And, if he doesn't want to reveal all of his jutsu, then neither I, nor anyone else is going to make him." Sarutobi replied.

"Very well. After a short fight, Naruto-san disengaged. I was attacked by Uchiha Sasuke shortly after, who repeatedly degraded his teammates after I had him trapped. Only minutes later, I was attacked by Naruto-san again. He let off a rapid fire assault and actually managed to distract me long enough for the Hyuuga girl to sneak up on my and disable my limbs. After they got the bells, the confirmed that they were working together and that their plan worked perfectly. They had tried to include Sasuke in their plan, but he brushed them off as useless and went to attack me himself. I decided to pass them, despite Sasuke's arrogance and refusal to learn the lesson of the test, as it would be a waste to loose the potential that Naruto-san and Hinata-san have for another year because Sasuke won't co-operate." Kakashi finished, taking a deep breath after having spoken so much.

"Very well. Continue with your reports."

"Team Eight, pass."

"Team nine, pass."

"Team Ten, pass."

"Very well. You are dismissed." Sarutobi said, as he casually lit his pipe.

There was a chorus of acknowledgement before the gathered jonin disappeared in a flurry of leaves and smoke.

* * *

Sui: Do you like. On Naruto's godly abilites: His battle with Kakashi demonstrates how combat with higher level shinobi works with these powers. On the vehement defense of Hinata: Naruto, despite having a contempt for humanity as a whole, is not stupid enough to put all humans in the same category. Granted he often refers to them as more than human, but that is just one of his quirks. On aura colors: I'm going with the steriotypical black aura is bad, white aura is good thing for the sake of ease. Now to answer reviews.

Uzumaki Ricky: Once again, thank you for the enthusiasim. And, while I do agree that Hinata's stutter is cute, it is still annoying to write.

Forgotten Memories: You must keep in mind that she didn't know Naruto was even alive for some time and, even then, the Kyuubi interfered before she could do anything and Kyuubi now keeps Naruto from being tracked by Amaterasu or any other good deities so she can't get to him now. Their relationship will be mended eventually, but not without copius fighing and bloodshed first.

Storylover213: There will be punishment in the form of Naruto for the three gods that were against saving him, but that won't be for awhile. As for Sarutobi, in this, he is just a tired old man that doesn't do his job quite as well as he could, not evil. He will die, just not a Naruto's hands. Though I may change my mind on that.

rando: Congratulations, you are my first ever flamer, not just for this story, but for any of Arashi's and/or my own stories. Your idiocy will be forever memoralized for my amusment. Of course, your flame came just in time too. It's nearly winter where I live and I need something to help lower the heating bill.

Dragon Man 180: The Naru/Hina will become more prominent as soon as the Wave arc. As for the Cherry bombs... That is a great idea. Good thing I debued them in this chapter.

Arashigan16: This story is acctually a counter peice to his story. I was reading his story and got the idea of what if Naruto was saved by Kyuubi instead of Amaterasu. So I got permision to use his base idea and this story is the result.

Sui: Well, that's all for this chapter. To everyone who reviewed that I didn't respond to, thank you for your support and I will do my best to continue to provide the best story I can for you all.


	6. Chapter 6

Sui: Hello all. Sorry for the delay, but I was having trouble finishing the Zabuza fight. Anyway, on with the story and, as usual, I hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Ookami. If I did, I would be alot less stresed than I currently am.

* * *

Naruto watched with sadistic glee as the fat feline leapt into it's owners arms and welcomed being nearly crushed to escape him.

The Sandaime looked on with a cross between annoyance and glee before he adopted a business like demeanor.

"OK. For your next mission you can, mow a lawn, help a family move, baby-sit-" The Sandaime was cut off by a vicious growl from Naruto.

"If you send us out on another chore, I can't guarantee that there will be no casualties." Naruto practically growled out, just enough to sound almost playful rather than serious as he actually was.

"Naruto! All genin need to do D-rank missions at first!" Iruka argued.

"Why? So that lazy villagers can sit about while they have teenagers do the work they should do for themselves." Naruto countered.

After a moment of contemplation, the Sandaime spoke, cutting off Iruka before he could argue with Naruto. "What do you think Kakashi-San? Are they ready?"

"Hmm. I say they can handle a low C-rank." Kakashi said without once looking up from his book.

"Vary well. I have just the mission for you." Sarutobi pushed a button on the desk. "Send in Tazuna-San please."

After a few moments, a man of average height with gray hair carrying a jug that stank of alcohol entered.

"These are the brats that are going to protect me? That girl looks ready to faint on the spot."

As soon as Tazuna said that, Kakashi knew he had said the wrong thing. With a dull white flash of light a large segmented blade embedded itself in the wall only inches away from Tazuna's head.

"You were saying?" Naruto said in the same overly calm voice that he used when Sasuke had insulted Hinata after the bell test.

"Now Naruto-San, no killing the clients, it gives us a bad name." Kakashi said, still not looking up from his book. "Meet at the east gate in an hour. Pack for at least a month's duration."

With that, Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sasuke simply grunted as he left and Naruto reached out with his right hand and the sword disappeared in the same dull flash of light it had been summoned in before he left to pack as well, leaving Hinata to stare is slight shock before she too left to pack.

_Scene Change_

Team seven plus Tazuna walked along in complete silence. Kakashi was reading his book without a care in the world, Hinata was busy stealing glances at Naruto while wondering over his habit of protecting her in an exceedingly violent fashion, Naruto was trying to distract himself from the desire to kill something, and Sasuke was, though he would never admit it, too afraid of Naruto's wrath after the bell test incident to bother either of his teammates, opting to ignore them whenever he could.

Naruto, sensing a killing intent from the side of the road, glanced over to see a puddle to the side of the road, despite the fact that it hadn't rained in days. Naruto grinned as they passed the puddle, hoping the poor shinobi hiding in it would attack so he could kill something.

Almost as though in answer to Naruto's desire, two shinobi wearing dark clothing, breathing masks, and oddly shaped mist headbands with a slash through the symbol leapt from the puddle, wrapping their spiked chain around Kakashi and pulling tight, turning him into bloody Kakashi chunks. The one of the left dashed towards Sasuke while the one on the right charged Naruto gauntlet extended, obviously expecting an easy kill.

Naruto ducked under the stab and summoned a loosely connected string of prayer beads and lashed out, wrapping the overly long string of beads around the mist nuke-nin's leg and pulling up with all the strength he could muster, ripping the shinobi's legs out from underneath him and leaving him in the air upside down. Naruto then jerked his arm to the right, sending the shinobi crashing into the tree line, through the first three trees and finally coming to a stop, unmoving, after hitting the fourth tree. Naruto resealed the beads as he looked to see how Sasuke was doing.

Sasuke leapt over the mist shinobi's attempt to sweep his legs out from underneath him and launched a roundhouse kick at his head, only for the shinobi to duck under and run under Sasuke's still airborne body to charge at Tazuna. Sasuke turned and attempted to catch up to the nuke-nin before he caught another dull white flash from the corner of his eye and a massive sword impaled the enemy shinobi through the legs and to a tree, his legs remaining just barely attached by threads of skin and muscle.

Suddenly, with no signs of his arrival, Kakashi appeared.

"Well, that was interesting." Kakashi eye smiled. "Care to explain why a pair of missing ninja is after you Tazuna-San? I saw how Sasuke's opponent got past him and tried to go for you." Kakashi's tone became serious as he finished.

Tazuna, slightly frightened by the ease with which the kid he had pissed of earlier had taken down the two shinobi after him, told team seven every thing about how Gatou had a vice grip on their country and was bleeding them dry and that his bridge was the only hope for their country to break Gatou's hold.

'**Naruto, I would suggest you continue.'**

'_Huh? Kyuubi? You haven't spoken much in a while. Why do you suggest I continue to wave?'_

'**There is a temple there to Nuregami. She is relatively weak and has a power that, while useless at first, becomes very useful once you master it and it's variations.'**

'_Ok, but what is her power?'_

'**Nuregami has water manipulation powers. In their initial stage, you can only manipulate water in a minor way, but once you master it, you can call forth storms that can turn the sky black with clouds and flood entire villages with the down pour out of thin air.'**

"Well, I'll leave the final decision to you three. Should we continue on or go back?" Kakashi asked, not knowing that Naruto hadn't listened to anything he had said before that.

"I say we go on. How can we call ourselves shinobi if we abandon the mission because it got more dangerous?" Naruto said, immediately getting Hinata's approval to continue the mission as well since he wanted to. Sasuke, taking Naruto's proclamation as a challenge, also voted that he wanted to continue.

"Very well, it looks like were continuing this mission." Kakashi said with his signature eye smile as he pulled back out his book, ignoring Naruto wrenching the blade that pinned the, now dead from blood loss missing-nin, from the tree and resealing it.

The group of shinobi and one terrified civilian continued towards wave with little problem, with the exception of Naruto nearly throwing the boat man who ferried them over to wave in the water since the paranoid old man kept hushing them literally every five minutes, even when the weren't even speaking.

After arriving in wave, everyone tensed up in preparation for the attack Kakashi had warned them was likely to happen. Naruto's head whipped to the side as his ears caught the slight whistling sound of metal cutting through the air.

"Down!" Naruto yelled, dropping to the ground and pulling Tazuna and Hinata with him just in time, Kakashi and Sasuke dropping to the ground before he was even finished speaking, as a zanbatou flew through the air where they had been standing just moments later, embedding itself in a tree only to have a man wearing pinstripe pants and gauze over his mouth land on the large handle and direct a slight killing intent at them.

"Momochi Zabuza, Kirigakure no Kijin." Kakashi said as he stood up and pulled a kunai out.

"How nice that someone like Sharingan no Kakashi knows of me. I'm honored." The now identified Zabuza said, somehow managing, like Kakashi, to speak clearly, despite his covered mouth.

Neither Kakashi nor Zabuza anticipated what happened next though. Naruto began laughing almost hysterically.

"Heh, looks like one of your brats lost it, Kakashi." Zabuza said.

Naruto's laughter died down after a few moments and he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Oh, sorry. It was just too funny that this guy is called a demon of all things. I've met mice scarier than he is." Naruto's lupine grin threatened to split his face in two.

"What, brat, you think you can beat me?"

"Hell no. I've read your bingo book entry. You're not quite as strong as Kakashi-Sensei, close but not quite, but I still can't beat someone of your level yet. It's just that you have not earned the name demon yet. Yeah, you killed the entirety of your graduating class and you are more bloodthirsty than most, but there are many others just like you running around." Naruto said with a shrug.

"That brat of yours is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, Kakashi." Zabuza said as he and his sword disappeared, only to reappear on the lake with his hands in a seal as the mist grew thicker. "Eight points. The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, clavicle vein, and heart. Which of these should I strike first?" Zabuza's voice echoed from all around them in the mist as the area flooded with killing intent.

Zabuza suddenly appeared behind Tazuna, his blade already moving to cleave the old man and team seven in two in one swing, only to be intercepted by Naruto, who had summoned the large segmented bade he often used to block Zabuza's equally large blade. Before Zabuza had a chance to retaliate, Kakashi appeared behind him and slit his throat, but water instead of blood ran from the wound before the Zabuza clashing blades with Naruto turned into water and sunk into the ground. Another Zabuza appeared from the mist and cleaved Kakashi in two, who also turned into water and sunk into the ground. Once again, Kakashi appeared from the mist and put his kunai to Zabuza's throat.

"It's over Zabuza, give up. You know you can't beat me in one on one, let alone with my students heading off your attempts to kill Tazuna." Kakashi said, having long since pulled up his head band to reveal a sharingan eye in his left eye socket.

"Keh, that's what you think." The Zabuza in front of Kakashi turned into water as yet another Zabuza appeared from the mist, his blade in motion to spilt Kakashi in half. Kakashi turned around to face Zabuza, ducking as he did to only to get Zabuza's foot in his face sending him flying into the water.

"Suiton: Suiro no jutsu." Zabuza said as an orb of water surrounded Kakashi which Zabuza, who had appeared on the water just moments after Kakashi landed, immediately stuck his arm into. Zabuza formed a single hand seal with his free hand, forming another water clone.

"Run! You have to get Tazuna away from here. He can't leave without letting his jutsu dispel and his clone can't go too far away from it's creator."

Naruto hefted the oversized blade onto his shoulder. "And what's to keep him from finishing you off and then coming after us? The way I see it, our only option is to free you."

Zabuza's clone leapt back as a trench was suddenly carved in the ground where he had been standing just moments ago. Naruto grinned as the large sword he held on his shoulder disappeared, only to be replaced by a bow longer than he was tall. The bow was a dull grey color with a string of the same color and was completely unadorned with the exception leather wrappings acting as a grip on the shaft of the weapon. Pulling back the string, an arrow appearing from thin air as he did so, Naruto let the arrow fly, piercing through the air with a surprisingly low pitched hum. The clone, surprised at the speed of the arrow, took the arrow in the chest, dispelling into a puddle of water.

"A bow and a Zanbatou? Just how many weapons do you use, brat?" Zabuza questioned, amused that a fresh genin thought he could beat him.

"Several types actually, not that you'll see them all. You can't move from that spot, so I can just sit here and fire arrow after arrow until I hit you." Naruto said, a lupine grin back on his face.

Just as Naruto had finished speaking, he let another arrow fly, Zabuza bringing around his blade to block the projectile. He grunted as the small object impacted with far greater force than he had anticipated.

"Heh, that hit pretty hard, brat, but not nearly fast or hard enough to hit me." Zabuza boasted, before he felt a sudden sense of déjà vu. Instinctually keeping his sword in front of him, Zabuza suddenly felt a series of powerful impacts hit the same spot on his blade, a cracking sound ringing across the clearing as the rapid fire barrage finished. Zabuza turned the side of the blade he had blocked with towards himself to see the damage and ground his teeth at seeing a large crack running down the center of the blade with spider web cracking running in all directions away from it.

"What the hell was that brat?" Zabuza demanded.

Naruto smirked. "Totally worth it, that's what it was. I didn't think I'd crack your blade that easily, even with my abilities, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Unfortunately, this battle isn't going to last much longer. You really should pay more attention to your surroundings."

With that, several Naruto's sprang from the water and launched a barrage of kunai at Zabuza, forcing him to dodge rather than risk further damaging his sword. Something he had be right to do as the kunai exploded less than a foot away from where Zabuza had been standing, blowing away the orb of water that kept Kakashi prisoner. As Kakashi landed, the Naruto's disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"It's over Zabuza." Kakashi said as he pulled out a kunai.

Zabuza said nothing and simply began to circle around Kakashi, who mimicked his every move. The battle continued in much the same fashion, Kakashi mimicking Zabuza's every move until eventually the missing-nin was hit with a Suiton jutsu that sent him into a tree hard enough to crack the trunk. Just before Kakashi could finish Zabuza though, a pair of senbon impaled themselves in Zabuza's neck and he slumped down as a ninja wearing a mist hunter mask appeared near the tree line. Without saying a word, Kakashi checked Zabuza's pulse and, after a moment, nodded to the hunter-nin, who picked up Zabuza's body and disappeared in a swirl of mist. Immediately after, Kakashi pulled down his headband and collapsed.

"Well that was fun." Naruto quipped with a mischievous smile as he picked up Kakashi. "So, where was your house again Tazuna-san?"

* * *

Sui: So, do you like it? Again, sorry for the deelay, but I couldn't figure out a good way to do the Zabuza fight for awhile. Anyway, on to reveiw answers.

Tsukune08: Kakashi calling Hinata the Hyuuga girl was no more than a quirk of my writing. It wasn't supposed to sound cold, though I realized that it did after going over it again, it just kind of sliped in there. It probably won't happen again though.

rando: Good, you aren't yelling at me any more, though you are still insulting me, and using explatives too, I don't like that. Now that you aren't yelling, I suppose I can point out some things you missed. One, I stated in the begining that Naruto is going to be a little odd. He has his natural need to help people from his mother competing with his perogitive to hurt people from the Kyuubi. He isn't a good person by anymeans, but he isn't the incarnation of evil either and will actually become better as time goes on. As for Hinata's resons for liking Naruto, you must keep in mind that he puts on an act for the people of Konoha, so they don't know just who dark he can be, so she thinks he is the same good person he is in cannon and the teachers still hate him( after all, he only appeared in the last year so no one had the time to get to know him much) so they sabotage him, making him appear as though he is a struggling student. As for his beatings when younger, they occured when he was six, before he and Hinata were in class together, and he made sure they stopped after his return so she doesn't even know they happened. As for the paring, this is going to remain NaruHina. If you are interested in reading NarutoYugito, read my story Butterfly or if you want a Naruto FemHaku, then you will have to wait because my idea for that isn't going to be written for awhile unless the idea really bugs me alot. And, finally, as for his murderous tendancies and evilness, you have to keep in mind that he is instinctively good. Being good is a deeply ingraned part of his personality. So, yes, he is evil, but he is not pure evil and he will become a better person later in the story as he comes to understand humanity and learns all sides of the story. Though he will be no means ever be a particularly good person, he also won't remain the somewhat heartless killer he is now.

god of stuff: The whole "The cheated" thing will actually make a reapearence in the future. I just wanted to focus on the teamwork aspect of it all at the moment. As for the segmented sword, it is an actuall wepon in the game. You get it shortly after you beat Orochi the first time and it is the second of all the great swords you get in the game. As for the wave mission, I simply couldn't think of diferent people to fill Zabuza's and Haku's spot. They will live, though, and even make appearences in the story at a later date.

Leaf Ranger: Hinata being different from every other human is actually the basis of their early relationship, though that will change as time goes on.

Storylover213: Naruto and Amaterasu will eventually sort things out, though not without copious bloodshed first. And as for the three gods Amatersu banished, there will be punishment in the form of Naruto comming there way yet, though he has only met Bakugami at the moment.

ricieri1: There will be many unfortuante events happening to Sasuke, so no worries on that front, though there won't be anything to mean as I have yet to decide his place in this story yet.

And to everyone who's reviews I didn't reply to, I thank you for your support.


	7. Chapter 7

Sui: That's right, yet another chapter of Tortured Demigod only three days after the first one. I hope you like this one as well.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Naruto or Ookami. I am, however, locked in a grueling legal battle for custody of both.

* * *

By the time the group made their way to Tazuna's home, it was nearly dark and they were all glad to have a roof over their heads. As soon as they walked in the house, they were greeted by Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, who directed Naruto to a room where he could lay down his unconscious sensei before he joined his teammates downstairs for the dinner Tsunami had prepared, though it was somewhat lacking due to the unexpected arrival of Tazuna and his escort. Dinner was a fairly relaxed affair. At least it was until the moping child who glared at the three genin spoke up.

"You're all going to die. Why are you trying?" He said in an accusatory tone.

"Kid, Gatou doesn't stand a chance. Against civilians, he can hire a bunch of thugs or even shinobi, but against shinobi, there is no chance he can win, especially since our sensei is the infamous Sharingan Kakashi." Naruto stated in a matter of fact tone with just enough chipper optimism to not seem out of place.

"Even as ninja, you don't stand a chance. Gatou is too strong!"

"If Gatou is so strong, why isn't he out here oppressing you or defeating us himself? Listen and listen well kid, because you're starting to get annoying with your woe is me act. Do you know the reason the Major countries don't have any substantial civilian military force? A high level jonin, such as Kakashi-sensei or a friend of his named Might Gai, could tear through a good sized chunk of a civilian army like they were wet tissue paper. Higher level ninja are walking weapons of mass destruction, rare though they are, and even the weakest of the elite could take down a small country like wave by themselves. The only military force that can properly oppose a high level ninja is either another high level ninja or a group of weaker ninja working in perfect tandem. Even the recent spike in chakra usage among samurai doesn't help them much. So, get your head on straight kid. Kakashi-sensei, at full power, could wipe wave clean without much problem. Gatou, fat lazy businessman that he is, couldn't take an average genin level ninja, let alone Kakashi-sensei." Naruto paused here and stared Inari dead in the eye. "Gatou, if he decides to show himself, will be lucky to be alive by the end of this mission."

With that Naruto continued eating as though he hadn't just explained to a small child how a single person could kill everyone he ever knew with ease, ignoring the shocked faces of both his teammates and their clients.

"Oh, and Zabuza is alive." Naruto added calmly before taking a sip of his tea.

"What!" The startled reply of everyone who had been present at the fight was uttered in a mixture of fright and horror.

"Yeah. Hunter ninja don't carry away the body. They obliterate it on the spot, only keeping the head intact to serve as proof of identity. I didn't raise hell about it when it happened as it is likely that we would be unable to defeat Zabuza's apprentice on our own, which is likely why Kakashi-sensei didn't bring it up either. He probably figured he could just beat Zabuza at a later time and train us to hold off Zabuza's accomplice until he finished with no-brows."

Naruto, who had finished with dinner by the time he was done with his explanations, put his dishes aside and moved up to his room to get some sleep, leaving his teammates and clients to ponder on the information he had revealed.

_Scene Change_

"Ok, now that we're in a nice secluded area, you can begin your training." Kakashi, who was using crutches to support himself – His genin had no idea where he had gotten them, he had just showed up at breakfast with them – spoke. "You will be climbing trees… without the use of your hands."

Kakashi proceed to demonstrate by calmly walking up the tree, still using his crutches, until he was hanging upside down from a low hanging branch. In blur of motion, three kunai landed before the genin.

"You can use those to mark your progress. The point is to channel your chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to attach yourself to the tree. Too much and you'll push your feet away from the tree. Too little and you won't stick." Kakashi advised as he detached from the branch, flipped mid-air, and landed on his feet with no problem.

"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, I've already completed this." Naruto said, echoed by Hinata, though she spoke in a much more subdued voice.

"Oh, care to demonstrate then you two?"

With a shrug, Naruto calmly strolled up the tree as though it were the ground, mirrored by Hinata.

"Hmm. I expected this from Hinata-san, after all, her clan's taijutsu relies heavily on chakra manipulation to get its effect, but I didn't expect you to be able to do it as well Naruto-san." Kakashi said.

"What can I say, watch enough ninja walk up walls and the like and I was bound to figure it out eventually."

"Well then, I think I have an exercise for you. Sasuke, stay here and work on tree walking. Naruto-san, Hinata-san, follow me and I'll show you another chakra control exercise."

Naruto and Hinata followed without complaint, ignoring the enraged Uchiha buried in his perceived lack of skill compared to Naruto and Hinata. After a few minutes walk, Naruto, Hinata, and Kakashi arrived at the lake Tazuna's house was situated over.

"Ok, the next level of chakra control exercise's is water walking. The point of this one is to use your chakra to bind the water into a solid platform for you to stand on. This is considered more difficult to do because it requires more chakra and you have to constantly change how much chakra you channel to specific parts of your body where it touches the water to deal with changes in the flow beneath the surface, which pulls on the water above, flow above the surface, waves and turbulence, and depth, deeper water has more potential to have violent turbulence and can flow faster than shallow water." Kakashi said as he demonstrated like he had with tree walking before returning to shore.

Giving Kakashi a nod, Naruto was the first to try it, failing as he accidentally pushed the water away with too much chakra. Hinata followed Naruto's attempt with one of her own and, unsurprisingly, managed to make it several steps before she sank into the water.

"Ok, I have to go guard Tazuna now, so I'll leave the two of you to work on this. Don't over do it, but don't slack off either." Kakashi said before walking off in the direction of Tazuna's bridge.

_Scene Change_

"What happened to your brats?" Tazuna asked as Kakashi made his way over to the aged architect.

"Sasuke is working on a chakra control exercise that Naruto-san and Hinata-san have already learned, and those two are off at the lake by your house learning the next step up of chakra control, though I already knew those two could do the exercise I have Sasuke doing, though I still set them to doing it at first." Kakashi said as he pulled out his favored orange book and flipped to a seemingly random page.

"If you already knew that, then why did you bother setting them to it in the first place?"

"I just wanted a reason to get Naruto-san and Hinata-san alone for awhile. Naruto-san has an odd habit of being violently protective of his female teammate and I'm hoping those two can work out whatever is going on if given enough time alone. And if I happen to become the godfather of some blond haired, Byakugan wielding babies sometime in the future, that doesn't hurt either."

"You're playing match maker with your student's?" Tazuna questioned dubiously.

"In my defense, Hinata-san has a major crush on Naruto-san and he needs some more experience with the positive side of humanity, considering his past. If they manage to get together and are happy with each other, then it would just be the icing on the cake."

Tazuna simply shook his head and went back to directing his workers.

_Scene Change_

By the time everyone had gathered for dinner, only Kakashi seemed to be in a good mood, though it was impossible to tell with Hinata due to her extreme shyness. Sasuke had, driven by the fact that Naruto could already to the tree walking exercise, managed to make it almost half way up the tree before he had acknowledge his exhaustion and headed back to Tazuna's house. Hinata had managed to get the water walking down rather quickly, something that was attributed to the above average chakra manipulation skills of the Hyuuga clan, and had even managed to gather her courage and offer to help Naruto, something he had warily, though he didn't let it show, accept. Naruto had improved more than he had thought he would due in large part to Hinata's stuttered offer of help and could, with a great deal of focus, stand on top of the waters surface for nearly an entire minute before his chakra slipped out of his control and he either pushed the water away with a surge of chakra or sunk in, something he was resolved to fix. Tazuna had lost several workers that day and progress on the bridge had slowed accordingly. Inari had been silent after Naruto's lecture on the power difference between shinobi and civilians. Lastly, Tsunami was, as unusual as it sounded, worried about Inari's lack of doom and gloom speeches about how everything was hopeless, though she was hoping it would lead to his return to the happy boy he was before Gatou's takeover.

Naruto, as he had the night before, finished his dinner quickly before he spoke up. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, I have some stuff to do, so I'm going to be out for awhile. I should be back before everyone goes to sleep though."

Kakashi lazily glanced at his genin, wondering briefly at his intentions and what business he could possibly have in wave at this time of night and thought on the possibilities of Naruto being attacked by Zabuza's apprentice before he finnaly answered. "Ok, I suppose that's fine. Just remember to come back soon and try not to attract too much attention. If you're attacked, then get back here if you can and if you can't then just let off an exploding note to let us know."

Naruto nodded before getting up and leaving. As soon as Naruto was out of the house, he started running at full speed. Shortly into the tree line, Naruto willed himself into the familiar form of his divine wolf form, becoming an average sized white, though the fur was streaked with balck, wolf marked with red lines and odd spiraling tufts of fur at his heels, shoulders, and tail. Naruto's canine lips curled back over his teeth in what could pass for the wolf equivalent of a grin as he sensed the person following him slip up in their concealment in shock. He raced ahead, dodging around tree trunks with practiced ease before he sensed the spy depart.

_Scene Change_

After nearly 10 minutes of all out sprinting, Haku made it back to Zabuza's hideout. Bursting into the odd structure hanging from the trees, Haku dashed to Zabuza's room, startling the half awake man to full alertness.

"What's going on? You're supposed to be monitoring that blond brat to figure out how he managed to damage my sword as badly as he did without even doing anything." Zabuza demanded.

"Zabuza-sama, I fear we are dealing with someone who is not human in the blond boy, whose name is Uzumaki Naruto." Haku said.

"Aside from the fact that I wasn't expecting to ever hear the name Uzumaki again, what could make you think that?"

"I was following Uzumaki-san, as you had ordered. His sensei set the team to chakra control exercises that they spent the day doing. After Uzumaki-san had finished dinner, he informed his sensei that he had things to do and his sensei allowed him to leave. As soon as he exited the house, he dashed off into the forest, heading east by north east. Only moments after entering the forest, Uzumaki-san transformed into a wolf. That is not it though, the flowers he passed over, despite the fact that it was night, bloomed and some even grew in his wake." Haku explained.

"Ok, so the kid is skilled in genjutsu, that doesn't mean he's not human."

"That's just it, it wasn't a genjutsu. I checked, and even tried several different dispelling and breaking techniques, but nothing changed. Uzumaki-san literally changed himself into a white wolf."

"Did you say white wolf?" Zabuza asked quietly.

"Yes, Zabuza-sama. He changed into an average sized white wolf, though his fur was streaked with black."

"Go to the library and bring me the book titled The Fall of Yami by Issun the Artist." Zabuza commanded.

Haku did as told and quickly returned bearing the book in question.

"Ok, now open that book to the beginning and scan through it until you reach the description of Amaterasu."

Haku quickly flipped through the book before coming to the page Zabuza had mentioned and began reading it aloud. "The great goddess Amaterasu appeared first to me in the form of a great white wolf. She was slightly larger than average and had clear blue eyes. She bore red markings that ran along her body, denoting her status as a goddess and her fur formed odd swirling tufts around her ankles, shoulders, and the end of her tail. To any who did not believe, which was a rather large number of people at the time, she appeared as no more than a large white dog."

The room was completely silent for a moment before Haku managed to speak again.

"That's just a myth, right Zabuza-sama? Right? He couldn't possibly be a god of all things, right?" A hint of panic crept into Haku's voice.

"I don't know. I doubt he's actually Amaterasu. The stories always depict Amaterasu as a woman. I never really gave any credit to those books. I wrote them off as stories told by people long ago that they made up for fun or something. If this kid really is related to Amaterasu, then this mission just got a lot harder."

Zabuza and Haku fell silent again as they contemplated the new turn of events.

_Scene Change_

Naruto had just finished the ritual for calling Nuregami to the mortal plain when the blinding flash of light that always accompanied the appearance of Amaterasu's lesser deities. The flash of light illuminated the underwater temple. The temple in many ways resembled Amaterasu's back near Konoha. It was large and instead of walls it had pillars, and invisible barrier keeping back countless gallons of water from flooding the area. A statue sat in the center of the room. The statue was of a tall, slim woman with the same turquoise gems for eyes and dark rubies forming the flowing markings running along her body. A snake of the same marble was wrapped around her legs, making its way up to her arm and its head resting on her outstretched hand. As the light died down, the very same woman the statue depicted stood before Naruto.

"So, Naruto-kun, for what reason have you gone to the trouble of summoning me for?" Nuregami questioned, a soft smile gracing her features.

"You know why, Nuregami. The same reason I call on any of your brothers or sisters. I have come to challenge you for your power.

Nuregami sighed at the expected response, having been hoping he would have been nicer than the others had reported. "Very well then. The test you will have is something I'm very good at. We will be playing a game of hide and seek." As soon as she finished speaking, the world around them lurched and blurred before refocusing into a heavy jungle, Nuregami now in her snake form, though she was colored to match the surrounding vegetation instead of the stark white adorned with red markings as is normal for Amaterasu's lesser deities.

Nuregami suddenly disappeared into the underbrush. "Find me if you can, Naruto-kun." She giggled.

Naruto let a predatory grin settle on his face as he transformed back into his wolf form and began to chase after her.

_Scene Change_

"I wonder what that brat could be doing that would be keeping him up so late at night." Tazuna said as he took another gulp of sake.

"I trust Naruto-san well enough to take care of himself out there, regardless of whatever business he has." Kakashi replied, not once looking up from his little orange book.

"Still, it's just a little odd that the kid would suddenly sprout that he has something to do in a country he's never been to before and that he would have to do it so late at night."

"Well, all we can do at the moment is trust him and wait for him to come back or signal us for help."

"Yeah, but still." Tazuna grumbled.

_Scene Change_

Gatou and his two lackeys walked into Zabuza's room to find both him and Haku sitting in complete silence.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little baby demon." Gatou sneered.

"The game's changed, Gatou. Our fee has tripled." Zabuza said suddenly.

"Tripled! Where do you get off demanding that I triple your pay?" Gatou demanded.

"Since we learned that one of our opponents may be much more powerful than he seems."

"Keh. I've heard about the legendary Sharingan Kakashi, but I didn't think you would be this scared of him after only one battle."

"It's not Kakashi I'm worried about. Show them the door Haku-san. I expect triple the agreed upon pay when we complete this!" Zabuza called after Gatou and his thugs.

_Scene Change_

"Now wasn't that fun? I love to play hide and seek!" Nuregami chirped happily.

Naruto just scoffed at her enthusiasm at having just lost, though it still took much longer than he had expected, nearly five hours, for him to catch her. Five hours of non-stop sprinting through dense jungle chasing a target that naturaly blends in with the surroudings. It was a test of Naruto's speed, strength, stanima, agility, and traking skills as he hunted his prey. To add to the heavy foliage he had to dodge through while trying to catch his quary, was the somthering, humid heat of the place. The wearing marathon would have killed many others, even shinobi who were use to working in adverse conditions, due to exhaustion and overheating maybe an hour in at most.

"Oh, and one more thing, I have a gift for you." Suddenly Nuregami was in front of Naruto, her slender index finger just barely brushing against the center of his forehead before she disappeared in the same blinding flash of light she appeared in with only a few words to hint at whatever she had done. "Because not everything is just black and white."

Naruto simply stared dumbly at the spot Nuregami had occupied before he felt an uncomfortable itching build up behind his eyes that quickly developed into a burning agony. Naruto had no idea how much time had passed before the pain suddenly stopped, but he was rather glad it had and quickly left the submersed temple, moving as quickly as he could back to Tazuna's house.

It was only a short time before Naruto returned, the moon making it's way into the heavens as he entered the house.

"That was longer than you said it would be Naruto-san." Kakashi's voice rang from a corner of the room where he was reading his little orange book by the light of the moon.

"Sorry, it took longer than I thought it would." Naruto replied. "Besides, I didn't actually come back too late. I said I would come back before everyone went to sleep and since you are still awake, everyone is not asleep."

"Care to tell me what you were out so late doing?" Kakashi ignored his students comment on how he wasn't late.

Naruto pondered it for a moment before he decided to indulge his sensei. "See that glass of water?" Naruto pointed at a small cup on the table. Getting a nod from his sensei, Naruto called upon his divine powers and used his newest power to send the water in the glass rushing towards Kakashi.

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow as he felt the now common sensation of déjà vu before the water rushed towards him, stopping only a foot away where it fell to the ground and formed a small pool. With another sensation of déjà vu, the water rushed out the window and into the lake Tazuna's house sat over.

"That's quite impressive and will help greatly against Zabuza." Kakashi remarked.

"Yes, it will. It was rather annoying to obtain as well." Naruto replied before heading up the stairs to get some sleep.

"You have third watch." He heard Kakashi's voice follow after him. As he left Naruto didn't notice that the blazing aura that usually surrounded a person that spoke of their innermost soul was now missing from Kakashi.

* * *

Sui: So do you like it? My friend the review button would like to know the answer. Now, on the review answers.

rando: No yelling, insults, or explitives. Very nice. If we can keep this up, then we have no problem. If you ever wonder why something is the way it is in the story, simply ask. I pretty much always have a reason for things being like they are.

ricieri1: For now, the only one I'm sure I'm going to include is the Golden Lucky Cat and even then that one is more for humor than it is for practiality in this story. As for items, I will have all the weapons make an appearance and will even inculde some of my own design, as is evidenced by the bow Naruto wields and I will also have the Inkfinity Stone here as well, though those will be very rare and have drawbacks that make them dangerous to use for a good portion of the story.

Alaster Warhaven: Nuregami, as you can see this chapter, does live and she does loose her power to Naruto, if in an odd, albeit appropriate way considering snakes often blend in with their envirionments and can move surprisingly fast.

Rd: Naruto will be a bit of an odd person. He has an instinctual urge to be good from Amaterasu's side and has chosen to be evil for most of his life, both of which will affect him heavily. Naruto will never be the incarnation of good Amaterasu represents, but he won't be as evil as Yami either. He will have a be have no mercy for his eniemies, but won't go around killing random people either. As for Akatsuki and Orochimaru, they will actually play a big part in the story.

Deathmvp: As you can see, I rather liked your suggestion of Zabuza and Haku fearing Naruto more than Kakashi and have planted the seed of fear in them by giving them the knowledge that Naruto isn't entirely human. Very little is known about Zabuza's past, so I gave him an extinsive library that includes books of before the elemental nations so he could make the connection.

To everyone whos reviews I didn't answer, I thank you for your support and hope you continue to read.


	8. Chapter 8

Sui: I'm back with yet another chapter of Tortured Demigod. I hope you all like this chapter as much as the last. On a side note, I have been informed by a reviewer that I have not been doing much in the way of character development for Hinata, which in turn made me see that I'm not doing enough character development for Sasuke. That is a grevious error that I have begun to fix with this chapter.

Disclaimer: I lost the grueling legal battle for custody of Naruto and Ookami.

* * *

Naruto awoke with a start, his eyes snapping open and then quickly squinting almost shut to keep out the bright morning light. After his eyes adjusted, a glance about the room revealed that both Kakashi and Sasuke were not in the room. Quickly getting dressed, Naruto made his way downstairs, finding his team and Tazuna's family finishing breakfast. Naruto ambled over to the table, getting himself some breakfast and digging in, not even sparing his the others at the table a glance.

"You slept rather late, Naruto-san." Kakashi commented.

"Eh, rough night." Naruto got out between bites.

"You still have to work your water walking." Kakashi reminded.

Naruto simply grunted in response as he continued eating, giving Kakashi a blank stare for a moment before going back to eating. That is, before he realized something and snapped his eyes back up to Kakashi, staring in shock.

"Something wrong, Naruto-san? You've been staring at me for the past ten minutes." Kakashi said, startling Naruto out of his daze.

"No… It's nothing Kakashi-sensei." Naruto tore his eyes from the steel gray aura that surrounded most of Kakashi, with the exception of the patch vibrant gold that emanated from his covered left eye.

"Well, anyway. Naruto-san, you will continue to work on the water walking exercise. Sasuke will work on the tree walking exercise, with Hinata-san's help considering how much she managed to help with the water walking exercise and once Sasuke completes tree walking, he'll work on water walking as well. Tazuna-san, I'll be going with you today to guard you."

Naruto only half listened, glancing about the table, observing the others. Sasuke's aura was now a deep purple, tinged at the edges with the same vibrant gold centered around Kakashi's left eye. Tazuna's was the color of rusted bronze. Tsunami's was a red-brown earth like color. Inari's aura was tarnished silver. Only Hinata's remained unchanged, still the same pure ivory it had been since he had first met her, further solidifying the thought that she was different from other humans.

Naruto finished his food in a slight daze, wondering at the changes that had occurred. Leaving the house, Naruto distractedly made his way to the other side of the lake to practice water walking. Stepping into the water, Naruto immediately sunk. After several tries, Naruto decided to talk to the Kyuubi, assured that the fox deity would be able to tell him what happened. Sitting down cross legged, Naruto closed his eyes and focused his mind inward and quickly felt his feet land on ground that wasn't there before.

Opening his eyes, Naruto saw his mindscape. The mental representation of his mind had changed greatly since his first meeting with the Kyuubi. Where once it was a dank sewer flooded with at least a foot of water in the shallowest parts, the corridor now appeared as the hall of a great daimyo's castle. The floors were polished hardwood and the walls were of a slightly lighter wood with other corridors occasionally branching off. Naruto had learned that the hall he appeared in whenever he came here was actually the center of his consciousness and that the halls all lead to different parts of his mind. Making his way down the hall at a brisk pace, Naruto quickly found himself in the Kyuubi's room. It too had gotten a renovation over the years. It now appeared as a great hall where royalty would meet visitors, complete with a semitransparent silk curtain hanging in front of the Kyuubi's cage to shield the dark deity from sight.

"**Come to ask about the changes Nuregami made." **The Kyuubi stated rather than asked.

"So you do know what she did."

"**Of course I do. As Nuregami said, not everything is black and white. However, due to your status as only half god, black and white was all you could see in people's souls, good and evil. Nuregami bestowed the sight of a full god upon you, hence the pain you experienced in your eyes, since your body isn't supposed to handle such power. Each color, as with the black and white aura's you saw before, has a meaning. It's up to you, however, to figure out their meanings, which go far deeper than just good and evil. Now go back and continue to work on that water walking exercise your sensei set you to. I expect you to complete it well before the week is over so you can begin working on the use of Nuregami's power."** A wave of power flooded from the cage, sending Naruto hurtling back out of his mind.

_Scene Change_

"A-ano, you're using too much chakra." Hinata advised quietly.

Sasuke gave his signature, apathetic grunt, but still lowered his chakra output as he steadily continued up the tree. He had been unwilling to follow Hinata's advice at first, his pride demanding that he figure it out on his own, but quickly began doing as suggested once his logic managed to out weigh his pride after the 22nd time he fell to the ground when he didn't take her advice.

"Why are you so willing to help me?" Sasuke questioned suddenly.

"What?"

"The day of the bell test, I insulted you and since then I've been ignoring you at best or insulting you at worst. If you had acted that way to me, I would be actively sabotaging you. So why are you willing to help me?"

Hinata looked down sadly. "I'm w-wiling to help you for the s-same reason my clan calls me weak. They say I'm t-too kind and forgiving, that I should h-have no mercy and act like a p-proper Hyuuga, acting as though e-everyone else is below m-me, that is." Hinata explained.

Sasuke stared at her for a moment before he replied. "And why don't you act like that? Every Hyuuga I've ever met has and, though they aren't as strong as the Uchiha clan, the Hyuuga are still powerful." Sasuke admitted with some difficulty in quelling his pride enough to admit that someone else may rival his power.

Hinata just smiled the somewhat sad smile she had before. "Too little chakra." She advised.

_Scene Change_

"What happened to playing the matchmaker between the blond brat and your female student?" Tazuna questioned.

"I'll give them many more chances to work things out in the future, but the safety of you and your family comes first and I've already given them what I can without endangering the mission. Naruto-san made significant improvement yesterday, but Sasuke needs to make more improvement than he has so he can catch up. I'll need all my students at their fullest to fight Zabuza and his accomplice and I also would like to give Naruto-san a chance to do whatever it is he does to practice his unusual abilities without his teammates there to interfere or ask questions he doesn't want to answer."

"About that, how can he do that? I've been around the elemental nations a few times, so I know that ninja can do things ordinary people could never do and I've also heard that there are those among ninja who can do things that no other ninja can and that these families organize themselves into clans. Is it some sort of clan ability that allows him to do that?" Tazuna questioned, displaying a worldly knowledge that few non merchant, traveler, or politician civilians had.

"Honestly, I don't know. I know nothing about Naruto's heritage and I'm not sure if anyone else in Konoha does either. Naruto was dropped off in the orphanage on the very day he was born and has had a hard life, much harder than he deserves, and I feel that it has pushed him to grow up far too quickly and in a very bad way. Naruto refuses to talk about how he can do the things he can, and the Sandaime refuses to allow anyone to push the issue. All we can do is hope he remains loyal to Konoha and continues to use his abilities to our benefit." Not entirely a lie, he had his thoughts on who Naruto's father was after all.

_Scene Change_

Naruto was sitting by a tree as he rested, he had managed to improve his skill in water walking, though not by much and was now absently practicing Nuregami's powers, making small spouts of water burst into the air and form ever more intricate shapes as he refined his control over the water manipulation powers to get the most use out of them before the inevitable battle against Zabuza. Naruto snapped his head to the left as he sensed someone approaching. Not even a minute later, a person who was either a very effeminate boy or a slightly boyish girl made their way out of the tree line, a basket of herbs in their hands.

"What's someone like you doing all the way out here?" Naruto questioned, apparently startling the person.

"O-oh! I was just gathering some herbs." The reply was strained, as though the long haired person was afraid.

"You won't find many around here. It seems as though Tsunami-san already picked all the herbs near the lake. If I may ask, what is your name?" Naruto made polite conversation so as to buy time to decipher the newcomer's aura. It was composed almost entirely of the same steel gray that made up most of Kakashi's aura, sprinkled with splotches of dark vermillion. Haku took a moment to answer, having gotten over the shock of meeting Naruto, only to realized with renewed shock that Naruto's hair now had a distinct white tinge and barely visible red lines could be seen making their way across his visible skin. "M-my name is Haku."

"Hm. Well, as I said, there aren't many herbs around here."

"That's fine. I'll g-go look for some elsewhere." With that, Haku quickly rushed off, nearly running and making Naruto suspicious at the speed androgynous teen was moving at.

_Scene Change_

A week had passed since they had arrived. Sasuke had managed to complete tree walking with Hinata's help and had moved on to water walking. Naruto had managed to become competent enough with water walking that he could do it so long as he wasn't fighting, though he had spent a majority of his time working on using Nuregami's power, working on water walking when he ran out of ink. Kakashi had made a complete recovery, the only signs that he had done so being that he had put up the crutches, his genin having no idea where they went either. Today was the day that Kakashi had predicted Zabuza would attack and had Naruto leave several dozen kage bushin at Tazuna's house in the event that a kidnapping attempt was made before the group made their way to the bridge. When they arrived, the bridge was covered in mist and the shapes of some of the workers could be seen lying on the ground. The team and Tazuna moved into the mist, the ninja showing no fear while Tazuna was nearly having a panic attack, despite his previous experience with ninja battles.

"Cut the theatrics Zabuza, you know you don't stand a chance." Kakashi called out.

"Heh, I see you brought the brats with you again. Are you sure they can do anything against us?" Zabuza said as the mist cleared up just enough to show Zabuza and his accomplice nearly two dozen feet away.

"Are you sure your kid can handle my students?" Kakashi returned.

Instead of answering, Zabuza just thickened the mist once more, reducing visibility to near nothing. Suddenly, Zabuza appeared out of the mist, his sword, which had been repaired over the course of the week, already coming down in a powerful down stroke. Kakashi leapt aside, allowing the heavy blade to bite deep into the concrete bridge. Zabuza quickly gave chase, both jonin disappearing into the mist. From behind them, the accomplice appeared out of the mist, striking at Tazuna, only to be blocked by Sasuke and attacked from the side by Naruto, who had summoned his large segmented blade once more.

"So you were Zabuza's accomplice then, Haku." Naruto said as Haku disengaged. "I was suspicious after you ran off like that, but this just confirms it."

"How did you know it was me?" Surprise leaking into Haku's voice despite the lack of a change in posture to indicate as such.

Naruto just donned his lupine grin and charged after Haku, Sasuke following closely. Naruto attacked with a horizontal slash that Haku dodged, knowing better than to try to block a hit from such a large blade through many training sessions with Zabuza. Sasuke came in from the side with a vicious roundhouse kick that Haku blocked. Naruto slipped in the instant Haku blocked and ripped his sword in an upswing, tearing through the bridge as he did so. Haku back flipped away, creating some distance. Haku ran through a series of hand seals, stopping on the Ox seal.

"Hyouton: Tsubame Fubuki" The mist condensed into dozens of small ice birds that charged Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto leapt aside, batting at the birds, shattering those that he hit and occasionally taking a glancing hit, while Sasuke ran through seals and spat out a fireball, only for the birds to make it through and tear into Sasuke, leaving numerous cuts and shallow holes in his flesh as the greatly diminished birds continued their suicidal attack, melting in the aftermath of Sasuke's fireball before they could do any serious damage. Naruto charged in again, bringing the massive blade down in a diagonal overhead slash. Haku retreated further, allowing the blade to bury itself in the bridge. Naruto lashed out once more, the blade being replaced with a loosely connected string of prayer beads that wrapped around Haku's leg. Naruto pulled hard, sending Haku flying towards him. The instant before Haku was about to hit him, a large stone circle adorned with the sign of infinity appeared in front of him, causing Haku to slam hard into the reflector before it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

Naruto jumped back as a fireball pelted the spot Haku lay crumpled on the ground. The fire cleared revealing an unharmed Haku behind a sheet of ice that shattered into razor sharp shards that flew at Naruto and Sasuke. As before, Naruto managed to bat away many of the ice shards, the increased mobility of the beads allowing him to hit far more, shattering them as he did so, even with his lighter weapon, while Sasuke dodged many of them, getting several new cuts in the process.

"How are you able to shatter my ice so easily with your weapons?" Haku questioning gaze focused mostly on Naruto and watching Sasuke with peripheral vision.

"I'm a ninja, not some two bit magician. I'm not going to reveal my secrets so easily." Naruto countered, drawing upon his divine powers and, with a few quick brushstrokes, a bomb the size of Haku appeared a few feet above the disguised ninja. Haku leapt back, the powerful bomb blowing a chunk out of the bridge and sending Haku flying back from the concussive force. Haku scrambled up, running through hand seals at top speed.

"Hyouton: Myakou Hyoushou." A group of ice mirrors quickly condensed out of the mist around Naruto, but he shattered many of them as they were forming with a lazy swipe of the deceptively powerful beads, finishing the remaining ones with another swipe of the beads. Drawing once more upon his divine powers, Naruto created another bomb behind Haku that went unnoticed until it hit the bridge and immediately exploded, sending the androgynous ninja flying towards Naruto, only to be wrapped in the string of beads mid flight and swung into a pile of bridge material. Naruto pulled up, sending his enemy over his head to slam into the bridge behind him. As he turned to face his enemy once more, he caught sight of Hinata attacking their opponent while the injured Sasuke had retreated closer to Tazuna.

Charging in to reinforce Hinata, Naruto drew Haku's attention, allowing him to slip in and place himself between the fake hunter ninja and Hinata, switching out with his sword once more as he did so. Pressing the attack, Naruto used short swings to press Haku back while Hinata slipped in around Naruto, darting in between attacks, and land a steady stream of hits on their opponent. After nearly two minutes of a non-stop assault from the combined force of Naruto and Hinata, Haku collapsed to the ground, legs no longer able to support the masked teen. Naruto lifted his sword to make the killing strike.

_Scene Change_

"Give up now Kakashi, I'm far better prepared than I was before." Zabuza threatened the nonchalant jonin.

"I beat you before; it'll be child's play to do it again." Kakashi replied lazily before letting out an exaggerated yawn in an attempt to anger his tense opponent while he wondered over that same tenseness. "Surely you're not afraid of me, are you? You're a lot tenser than before." Kakashi went with the direct approach, none to discreetly pulling up his headband to reveal his implanted sharingan eye.

"Keh, as if. I just came into some knowledge that annoyed me, but make no mistake, I know the truth about that blond brat of yours now and I've prepared a contingency plan to deal with it."

"Oh, so you know about Naruto-san then. What preparations have you made for him then?" Kakashi probed, wondering how Zabuza had figured out about Naruto's jinchurikki status, unaware that Zabuza was really speaking of Naruto being not entirely human.

"I'll be sure to let you know when it gets used." Zabuza replied before fading into the mist.

"So you actually fear Naruto-san and expect him to be able to get past your accomplice then?" Kakashi goaded.

Kakashi's well honed danger sense warned him just in time to roll forward and dodge a horizontal slash from Zabuza's zanbatou. Not even a second later, Kakashi lashed out with a kunai, the chakra enhanced blade clashing with Zabuza's sword before he disappeared back into the mist. This continued in much the same fashion, Zabuza attacking from the mist before quickly retreating. However, the pattern ended when Zabuza suddenly stopped attacking. Kakashi waited tensely, straining his senses in an attempt to find his opponent.

'_If he's not here then…'_ Kakashi didn't finish his thought as he rushed towards where he could sense his students and the client. He arrived just in time to see Zabuza bat away Naruto and Hinata with the back of his sword, having apparently missed with the attempted killing stroke, and grab the now unconscious Haku before leaping back, the mist fading.

"I was hoping we had been wrong about you, brat, and that Haku would be able to handle you. After I figured out the truth, I made some preparations in case Haku couldn't win."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at that. "I had figured that you wouldn't figure out the truth and what you did learn would scare you off." Naruto said, confusing those on the bridge who didn't know the truth of Naruto's heritage.

Zabuza gave a half grin, half grimace as the mist cleared fully, revealing the large circle filled on the inside with symbols that none but Naruto were aware of the meaning of drawn right behind the team. "I figured with all the water around, I'd give you a proper opponent that would feel at home in such an environment." With that, Zabuza dashed forward in a move no one expected and bashed Naruto with the back end of his sword, sending him flying into the circle, both it and the symbols immediately beginning to glow an off purple black before the symbols pulled themselves off the ground and arranged themselves in the air in no recognizable pattern.

There was a rush of air over the bridge before a loud clacking sound made itself known, similar to the sound a crab makes when it snaps its claws together. The circle filled itself with water that appeared from nowhere until the water level was twice as high as Kakashi was tall, Naruto standing unsteadily on the surface as it rose. Several dark shapes fell from the sky, some of it being chunks of wood that floated on the surface, bobbing slightly in nonexistent waves before two more dark shapes fell, sinking all the way to the ground, giving Naruto time to make his way to one of the planks, before they made their way to the surface. One was a green hermit crab with a shell in the shape of the first half of a shark and the other was a red hermit crab with a shell in the shape of the back half of a shark.

"**Jiro-kun, dear, what are we doing here?"** The red crab spoke in a distinctly female voice.

"**I don't know, Saburo-chan."** The green crab had a male voice. **"It seems we've been summoned to a modified version of an Oni gate."**

"**Then someone has challenged us."** Saburo looked around before spotting Naruto. **"Ah! I see now. Some young spawn of that accursed woman who beat us up on the sunken ship has called us to do battle. I suppose we can humor the child before we tear him to shreds for the disgrace his mother inflicted upon us."** Saburo's tone became dark near the end.

"**Ha! Let's do it. It's not like that bitch can come down here and deal with us herself again."** Jiro cheered.

Naruto simply prepared himself, knowing that the two wouldn't listen to reason now that they had determined him to be an enemy. Jiro spat an urchin at Naruto that he batted away before lashing out at Saburo, knowing these two's weaknesses from the Kyuubi. Jiro leapt in front of the attack with a cry as Saburo swam underwater before he spat out a salvo of urchins that Naruto tried to bat away again. This time, however, some of the slipped through, the spines impaling themselves in his flesh and realeasing a potent demonic toxin that burned as it was obliterated almost as soon as it entered his system. Naruto grunted as he pulled the urchins out, only to be attacked from behind by a surfacing Saburo. Naruto ducked under the attack and drew upon his divine powers, quickly leaving a bomb bobbing in the water next to the odd pair. The two swam away as quickly as they could, the waves created by the partially submersed bomb crashing over them and sending them underwater. Wrapping his beads around the disoriented Jiro, Naruto pulled the crab demon from the water. Switching out with the Seven Strike, Naruto slammed the blade into Jiro's shell as hard as he could, sending the odd crab flying away with an audible crack as its shell was left with spider web cracks emanating from the point of impact.

Back outside the cylinder, the gathered ninja and Tazuna watched in shock as Naruto battled the crab monsters

"Just what did you summon?" Kakashi wondered in awe, only half paying attention to his own question.

"I-is is even p-possible for talking a-animals to exist? Hinata breathed out, worried for Naruto.

Zabuza gave the same half grin half grimace he had before sending Naruto into the odd circle. "I was hoping that wouldn't work. If it hadn't, it would have meant that the blond brat was just unnaturally strong or in the possession of a blood line." He began, speaking more to himself than Kakashi before addressing his fellow jonin's question. "Meet Jiro and Saburo, the demon couple."

Zabuza's reply broke Kakashi out of his shock and he quickly ran through a short set of hand seals. A loud chirping sound erupted as chakra lightning gathered in his hand, arcs randomly lashing out at the wet ground beneath him. Kakashi charged the barrier, his lightning covered hand outstretched in front of him. With a cry of "Rikairi." Kakashi impacted with the barrier, only for it to have no effect.

"Don't waste your time Kakashi. Your brat is going to die in there against those two." Zabuza said, some of his former confidence returned now that what he perceived as the greatest threat was trapped and going to die.

Kakashi turned back to Zabuza with a glare. "Sasuke, Hinata-san, guard Tazuna-san. I'll deal with Zabuza and then I'll free Naruto-san."

Hinata nodded her assent while Sasuke wisely decided to refrain from voicing his thoughts on Naruto's impending death as Kakashi charged the missing ninja with renewed ferocity.

Back inside the barrier, Naruto was having a bit more trouble keeping up with the attacks of Jiro and Saburo as they attacked with greater ferocity after Naruto had cracked Jiro's shell. Dodging another attempt to crush him from behind, Naruto batted away the follow up of a crab equivalent of a backhand from Saburo.

"**Humph. This brat isn't going to be fun anymore, Jiro-kun. Let's just finish him off."** Saburo said, retreating partially into her shell.

"**Of course, Saburo-chan." **Jiro said as he swam over to her and they joined claws before retreating fully into their shells, the two halves of the shark that made up their shells joining together to form a full shark wearing plate armor.

"_**Now you don't stand a chance against us brat. We are Ichiro."**_ The creature Jiro and Saburo had joined together to form spoke with both their voices before it submersed, swimming in threatening circles around the plank Naruto was currently positioned on.

The shark suddenly leapt from the water with an explosive burst of speed, aiming to crush Naruto under its bulk. Naruto lashed out with his blade as he leapt aside, scoring a gash into the soft, unprotected underbelly of the shark. Ichiro roared in pain as it took the blow, landing on the driftwood and crushing it into splinters, some of which lodged themselves in its wound. Swimming around Naruto's new perch as it had before, Ichiro tried the same tactic as before as well, leaping from the water to try to crush Naruto again. This time, however, Naruto drew upon his divine powers once more, drawing a quick horizontal line across Ichiro's stomach. Releasing the power and leaping away, Naruto was pleased to see a dark stain spread from where Ichiro had landed. The dark shape of Ichiro sped up towards Naruto, just out of sight as it was directly below him, growing larger as it neared the surface. This time, Ichiro had attempted to come from below to take a chunk out of Naruto. It partially succeeded as it's serrated teeth scraped against Naruto's leg, as he leapt away, leaving gashes nearly an inch deep in the back of his calf and scrapping against his shinbone in the front. Naruto let out a mixture of a hiss and a growl in pain as he landed. He looked down at the bleeding wounds to see them slowly, though it was far faster than a normal human's healing rate, and steadily healing. However, Naruto's moment of distraction cost him as Ichiro launched itself from the water at his left. Naruto leapt away with results similar to when Ichiro came from below. Jagged gashes tore from nearly the shoulder to elbow of his left arm. Naruto cursed as he drew upon his divine powers, using a variation of rejuvenation to accelerate the healing of his wounds, consuming a nearly a quarter of his remaining ink.

Ichiro, making the mistake of trying the same attack three times in a row, came at Naruto from the right. This time, however, Naruto batted the demon shark into the air as it attempted to take a chunk out of him and, intending to end the battle quickly, drew upon his divine powers once more, drawing a thick, dark line across Ichiro's vulnerable stomach, draining him of almost half of the ink he had left. As Naruto released his grip on his powers, allowing his changes to come into being, Ichiro was split in two with a piercing scream.

"**Damn you, brat!"** Saburo's voice rang out as the demon shark began to disintegrate.

"**You won through luck! Next time, we'll tear you to shreds!"** Jiro said as the shark finished disintegrating into yellow-black particles that faded into the air.

Naruto sighed in relief as the water drained away into the nothingness it had come from before the dark barrier faded away, allowing him access to the outside world once more. However, before Naruto could do anything, a voice rang out across the bridge.

"Well, well. It seems the baby demon Zabuza and his little brat can't even beat one man and some kids." Everyone's heads turned to see Gatou and a group of thugs at the end of the bridge.

"What do you want, Gatou. I'm not done with my job and don't need the help of your grunts to do it either." Zabuza called back.

"You fool. Did you really think I ever intended to pay you, especially after you demanded triple the original pay?" Gatou sneered. "Now that you ninja have all worn each other down, I can have my men kill you all and save the money I would have had to pay you."

Zabuza spared Kakashi a glance. Neither was in the best of conditions. Kakashi's furious assault had left its marks and Kakashi hadn't gotten away without wounds either. Haku was still unconscious and the only one of Kakashi's students still somewhat fresh was the girl, Hinata if he remembered correctly.

"It seems we aren't enemies anymore Kakashi. What do you say we deal with this pipsqueak and then we can go our separate ways?" Zabuza offered.

Before Kakashi could respond, Gatou spoke up again. "Of course, I'll have them leave that white eyed girl. Eyes like that would make her sell for quite a bit. Some men like to take exotic women to bed, though I might just keep her for myself for all the trouble this has caused me."

Kakashi's eyes widened as what Gatou said sunk in. "We may not need to deal with them."

"What do you mean? That rat just threatened to sell your student as a whore and you're not going to kill him?" Zabuza asked incredulously.

"I'm more than willing to try after what Gatou said, but that would require Naruto-san to leave some of them alive. He's notoriously protective of her. No one has figured out why yet, but he's threatened more than one person for them insulting her. With what Gatou just said, it's likely he and every one of his thugs are going to die." Kakashi said with chilling finality.

Just as Kakashi had predicted, Naruto sprang into action, moving low to the ground with his blade close to his side. As Naruto unknowingly unleashed a great deal of killing intent in his rage, the thugs and Gatou were frozen in fear as they saw the air and lingering mist behind and above Naruto warp into the form of a massive wolf, teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Just behind the ethereal figure of a wolf, the figure of a fox, more than three times the size of the wolf, with nine tails swinging wildly about formed. With a sensation of déjà vu that they barely noticed, nearly half the thugs were spilt in two, their organs spilling out as the two halves fell to the ground. The sight startled the remaining thugs into action, prompting them to flee in terror. They didn't get more than ten feet before Naruto was upon them, hacking them into pieces. Within two minutes of Gatou's proclamation, all the lackeys were dead and Naruto was standing before Gatou, Seven Strike perched on his shoulder, staring the corrupt business man in the eyes. Gatou, if he had been able to speak through the paralyzing fear, would have told of a monstrous figure. A person with bone white hair with black streaks placed at even intervals. Red markings curled and wove over his visible flesh. A visible aura of raw power flared around him, intermingling good and evil making a terrifying picture of a wrathful god come to enact revenge.

"P-please h-h-have mercy." Gatou managed to squeak out in the face of this vengeful deity.

Naruto continued to glare at Gatou as he moved with slow deliberate movements, bringing his sword to rest on Gatou's shoulder, he gave a malicious grin before ripping it toward the shipping magnate's head, literally tearing his head from his shoulders with the force of the blow. With a dull flash of light, Naruto resealed his blade and turned back towards his team, Zabuza, and Tazuna, surveying the carnage he left in the wake of his rage induced killing spree. Nearly 100 people dead in less than two minutes with no resistance what so ever.

Naruto strolled over to where Hinata, Sasuke, and Tazuna were standing before sitting down heavily, the exhaustion from fighting Haku, then Saburo and Jiro, then Ichiro, and then slaughtering Gatou and his thugs in quick succession setting in now that the adrenalin rush wore off.

Zabuza, taking the chance to get away while he could, grabbed Haku and disappeared in a quick Mizu Shushin.

Meanwhile, Naruto's teammates, Tazuna, and even Kakashi were looking at him with shock evident. Sasuke and Hinata because they hadn't thought Naruto would be capable of slaughtering so many people like that and not even show even the slightest bit of remorse. Tazuna because he was shocked at seeing a 12 year old kill nearly 100 people in less than two minutes. Kakashi was less in shock at Naruto's reaction than the others, his own observations of Naruto in addition to the Sandaime's report on Naruto and this incident having thoroughly convinced him that Naruto was mentally unstable, but still somewhat disturbed at the sheer brutality and carnage of Naruto's attack.

_Scene Change_

Team seven was leaving. It had been nearly two week since the battle on the bridge where Naruto had fought against the crab demons Saburo and Jiro and their combined form, Ichiro and slaughtered Gatou and his thugs. The village had been cautiously thankful of Naruto, though they were rather disturbed at the sight that had greeted them when they arrived at the bridge and were even more disturbed when they learned that Naruto had been the one to kill Gatou and his thugs. With a few words to the citizens of wave, more specifically Tazuna and his family, the four set off back to their home, using the bridge Tazuna had built.

"Hey, what should we call the bridge?" One of the villagers asked.

"I was thinking the Super Awesome Tazuna Bridge!" Tazuna suggested enthusiastically.

"How about… The Great Naruto Bridge." Inari suggested. "He did free us from Gatou's reign."

"Yeah, fine, we'll go with that." Tazuna grumbled good naturedly, staring off into the distance where the Konoha head disappeared to.

* * *

Sui: So do you like this one as well? The review button will take your ballets, please form an orderly line. On to reveiw answers.

Jimbobob5536: Sorry to say, no souless Kakashi, I just found that to be a nice cliffhanger, though considering I put out a new chapter two days after the previous one, it doesn't work too well.

dracohalo117: Amaterasu won't be making an actual appearance for awhile. She will show up from time to time, but she won't really affect anything untill the rest of the divine players come onto the stage.

Ninja bat master: I have plans for Hinata, I won't tell you what exactly they are, but I will tell you Naruto is right in the belief that she is not a normal person.

Wyrtha: Hinata is too timid, even with more exposure to Naruto, to ask more and Naruto, having been taught some by the Kyuubi, knows better than to demand more from a teacher than they are willing to give. As for the gods, they are telling Amaterasu about Naruto, but she can't really affect the human world at this point in time for reasons that will be revealed in due time.

Lexor: Zabuza and Haku aren't, or weren't rather, followers of the old ways. Haku just reported that Naruto suddenly physically turned into a white wolf, Haku didn't see the markings or the divine weapon that hovered over his back, and Zabuza remembered an old story he had read once about something like that. Now that they are convinced that Naruto is divine, they can see the truth of what he is, but they won't be around for awhile.

twilightcloud18: Hinata still likes Naruto and Naruto bears an interest in her, but their relationship won't be really moving along for awhile still due to Naruto's lack of understanding of humanity( as well as his own lack of humanity at the moment). Right now, the begining of their relationship is being layed out before they really start it.

Dragon Man 180: So you asked, so I gave. The fear of a wrathful deity is forever instilled in Gatou.

Celtic-Moon-Wolf: Worry not, Naruto's slaughter of Gatou's thugs isn't the only instance of Naruto killing spree that will be seen. At the moment, Naruto's apparent goodness is more or less an act for Konoha, though as you saw in this chapter, not everyone falls for it. As for the second part of your revew, the game in questione that is featured in this story is called Okami.

To everyone whose reviews I didn't answer, I thank you for your support and hope you continue to read.


	9. Chapter 9

In comparison to their trip to wave, team seven's trip back to Konoha was rather dull. It was much quicker than going to wave considering that they didn't have to move at a civilian pace and they quickly reached the gates and were waved through after the guards cleared their paperwork. Kakashi allowed the team to go their separate ways while he went to the Hokage's office to deliver the official mission report. Sasuke gave his typical monosyllabic grunt, Hinata left with a quiet nod, and Naruto just grumbled about needing a shower and headed to his home. Upon reaching the Hokage's office, Kakashi was allowed in instantly, confirming his suspicions of being expected.

After Kakashi finished with his report, the Sandaime asked the question Kakashi had been expecting. "What can I do for you Kakashi?"

"I would like to discus some parts of the mission, Hokage-sama. More specifically, I would like to talk about an unusual occurrence during the mission and Naruto's apparent apathy towards killing. At one point during the mission, Naruto descended into a murderous rage and began releasing intense killing intent, but that isn't what bothered me. What did disturb me was the odd sensation of wrongness that accompanied the killing intent. It was like being in the presence of something… _more_ is the only way I can describe it. I felt like I was a helpless child staring down a snarling beast that was about to eat me." Kakashi shuddered at the memory here before collecting himself once more, "In regards to his killing, when you gave me your profile on him, it said that, while Naruto was expected to occasionally be more vicious and brutal than needed, he would likely show disinclination towards killing. When Naruto took down the demon brothers, he did so almost surgically, indicating that he may have past experience with killing. In addition to that, his rage induced slaughter of Gatou and his thugs, while not unexpected given the circumstances and the behavior he has shown since joining team seven, showed a brutality far beyond what was expected."

The Sandaime nodded thoughtfully, "It seems our initial evaluations of his potential violent tendencies underestimated him then. It is good, at very least, though, that all his most violent reactions are in protection of his teammates." The Sandaime mused. "I'll further observation of him to ensure that this doesn't become a problem. In the mean time, I want you to try to help him form bonds with his fellow genin, both with his teammates and outside his team. I also want you to try to reduce the violence of his reactions to potential threats. If you can't manage to reduce the violence of his reactions, then at least try to keep it directed at enemies. About that odd feeling that Naruto emitted, I'll look into what caused it. It may just be a side effect of the Kyuubi."

"Of course Hokage-sama. I have just the idea to promote socialization as well as help him curb his violence." Kakashi said with an eye smile that made the Sandaime worry slightly.

_Scene Change The next day_

Naruto was making his way to the Hyuuga compound. Normally he stayed away from clan compounds because of the potential problems with the inhabitants that might arise if he got too close, but Kakashi had assigned him the task of retrieving Hinata while their chronically late sensei looked for Sasuke. Quickly arriving at the gates of the enclosed compound, Naruto's way was blocked by the two gate guards, their covered foreheads marking them as branch family members.

"State your name and business." The elder of the two said in an official tone.

"I'm here to retrieve Hinata at the command of our sensei, Hatake Kakashi." Naruto stated in a mockery of the man's formality.

After a moment of scrutiny, the man spoke once more. "Very well, I will escort you to Hinata-sama's room."

The guard opened the gates and made his way into the compound, followed closely by Naruto. The two made their way into a large building set a short distance from the wall and any foliage, most likely by design so as to help keep out intruders, and entered through, in Naruto's opinion, disgustingly large doors, which would make it easy for any invading force to combat the people in the home as it provided a large entry point. The building was grandly decorated, walls bearing what Naruto was sure were famous pictures, rare flowers sat in expensive vases that sat on expensive and, no doubt, hand crafted wood tables. After going through a series of hallways that would have gotten Naruto lost had he not had the skill in memorization that he did, they stopped before a non-descript door.

"Hinata-sama should be inside." The branch member said before leaving, prompting a muttered comment about stuck up Hyuuga's from Naruto.

Declining to knock, Naruto entered the room only to find it empty. Looking about, Naruto took in the room. The walls were the same bland white that seemed to blanket the compound, the floor, much as with the rest, was made of expensive looking hardwood, a poster bed was set snuggly in one corner, something that was common for shinobi to do when setting up bedding in any room, and had lavender covers and pillows, There was a small side table beside the head of the bed, a desk sat in the corner opposite the foot of the bed and there was another door near it, and in-between the desk and bed was a window. The desk and table were sparsely decorated, the only things on the desk being a few scrolls and a couple books. Turning his attention to the side table, Naruto saw that there was a small electronic alarm clock and a picture of team seven that Kakashi had forced them to take sitting on it. However, what caught his eye, was the small wolf plushy that sat beside a fox plushy at the edge of her bed. While the wolf plushy was in good condition, the fox plushy had clearly undergone some serious repairs in it's time if the numerous stitches were any indication and looked vaguely familiar, reminding him of a plushy that had belonged to him before he left Konoha and had thrown out after finding it among the personal effects collected from his apartment some weeks after his return. Naruto was wondering what Hinata was doing with a wolf and fox plushy of all things, especially considering the lack of decorations in the rest of the room, when the door off to the side of the desk opened, steam billowing out and Hinata, wearing only a towel, stepped out. The two stared at each other for a moment before Hinata eeped, wrapping her arms around herself as though in an attempt to further cover herself, and Naruto turned away, having some difficulty tearing his eyes from Hinata's surprisingly voluptuous form, but managing it in the end anyway.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were taking a shower. Kakashi-sensei wanted us to meet at training ground 32 at 10." With that, Naruto quickly made his way out of the room and exited the Hyuuga compound, leaving behind a frozen Hinata, who only managed to snap herself out of her shock after several minutes. With a blush that could have lit up a room still on her face, Hinata quickly registered what Naruto had said and went about getting dressed and preparing.

_Scene Change_

Naruto arrived at training ground 32 nearly a half hour early, only to see teams eight and ten along with another team that he had never seen before there with their sensei's. Deciding against speaking with any of the others, Naruto waited in the shade of a tree, Sasuke arrived 15 minutes early and moved off by himself, Ino and Sakura following him as they argued over who would get to date him, and Hinata arrived shortly after and nervously sat near Naruto with a blush still on her face. Surprisingly enough, to those who weren't on team seven, Kakashi arrived only 10 minutes late.

"Ok, since we're all here now, we can begin." Kakashi said, taking up the role of explaining things to the genin, "We are going to have some inter-team training. The purpose of this is to promote unity and improve skills by allowing everyone to learn something from each other and other people's senseis. To start off, why don't we have some spars and we will help correct you on improper form and such." Kakashi finished, pulling out his trademark orange book and moving to the side of the clearing.

The man in disturbing green spandex stepped forward now. "YOSH! Time for the youthful spars!" The oddly dressed man looked about the clearing before speaking again. "How about Kakashi's youthful Naruto faces Asuma's Chouji."

Kakashi spoke up before anything could begin, "Actually, how about Naruto faces the entirety of team 10."

"You really think your kid can beat all three of mine?" Asuma questioned.

Kakashi simply shrugged. "No need to make victory so easy for him. Besides, I want to see how he fights against a group that is supposed to be in skilled working together."

"YOSH! It is decided then, Naruto shall face off against team 10!"

Naruto simply got up and lazily strolled over to the center of the clearing, team 10 mimicking him with everyone else moving to the sides, most of them forming into their teams and sticking close to their sensei's. With a signal from Gai, who moved back afterwards to give the fighters some room, the fight began.

Naruto stood, facing down Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji. After a few moments, Ino slapped Shikamaru across the head and told him to bind Naruto. With his hands in the rat seal, Shikamaru's shadow stretched out towards Naruto.

"Heh, looks like your kid knows better than to fight." Asuma gloated at Kakashi.

"Nah, I think it's just that he knows he can get out." Kakashi didn't look up from his precious porn for even a moment.

Shikamaru's shadow connected with Naruto's, earning a shout of victory from Ino and a soft smile from Chouji. Naruto smirked viciously, though it was quickly covered, at how he was about to crush their hopes of winning as he began to stroll casually towards the team, stopping their premature victory celebration. Suddenly switching from a casual walk to a straight out sprint, Naruto was directly in front of team 10, having crossed the clearing in just under two seconds. Using their shock against them, Naruto landed a devastating blow to Shikamaru's chest, his sensitive ears picking up the barely audible sound of bones cracking as the lanky boy shot across the clearing into a tree and slumped down. Using the further shock of Shikamaru's quick defeat, Naruto landed a series of blows on the much more heavy set Chouji, quickly putting him out of the fight while showing a great deal of skill in rendering him non-combat effective without seriously hurting him. With a quick back hand to Ino, sending the underweight girl flying, Naruto ended the fight within one minute of its beginning and in less than 10 seconds of moving from his starting spot.

The others in the clearing, with the exception of Hinata, Sasuke, and Kakashi were dumbfounded. Someone who was supposedly average at best had just torn apart an entire genin team like they were no more than just civilians.

"What the hell did you teach that kid?" Asuma questioned absently, his ever present cigarette nearly falling from his lips.

"Oh, he didn't even go full out. Your team must be especially weak. You really should fix that. Especially the whole letting the enemy know what they're going to do thing along with being so slow and weak. I think Naruto may have actually accidentally broken something in them too." Kakashi commented, neglecting to mention that Naruto hadn't used anything he had taught him as Chouji, Ino, and Shikamaru slowly limped over to where the others were standing.

"Yosh! That was most youthful Naruto! Winner is Kakashi's student, Naruto!" Gai announced, quite unnecessarily.

With a quickly concealed smirk and sneer of disgust at how weak his fellow genin were, Naruto moved over to where his team was, taking up a spot by them without a word.

"Now for the next match!" After another moment of looking at the students, Gai came to his decision. "The next match shall be Hinata vs. Kiba!"

As the two made their way to the center of the clearing, Naruto stopped Hinata briefly and whispered something in her ear, causing her to blush before nodding determinedly. Kakashi spoke up. "How about you kids go socialize with the others and leave us Sensei's to talk to each other about jonin things." Kakashi's suggestion that was more of an order prompted obedience from the students as they reluctantly moved over to the side to stand in a loose group as Asuma and Kurenai moved over to him.

"So what was that about?" Asuma asked.

"Oh, you know, just wanting them to get to know others in their age group and all." Kakashi dismissed Asuma's question.

"You know, that girl of yours looks rather meek. Are you sure she can take my student?" Kurenai said, deftly changing the subject back to the fights.

"Didn't Asuma say that about Naruto when he fought his students?" Kakashi idly mused without looking up from his book.

"I'm sure I've trained my students better if his can't even beat one genin." Kurenai stated confidently.

"Oh, I guess I should mention something then. Hinata has taken up training with Naruto in her free time when the team isn't together awhile before our first C-rank mission. I have full faith that she will be able to defeat your student. Oh, on another note, I advise against saying anything that could be taken as an insult or threat towards Hinata within Naruto's hearing."

"Why is that?" Asuma asked, wondering what could prompt Kakashi give such a piece of advice.

_With the genin_

"You may have gotten lucky in fighting weaklings like Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji, but Hinata doesn't stand a chance against Kiba." Sakura boasted, confident in her teammate's ability to beat the timid looking girl.

Naruto stared at Sakura as though she wasn't even there for a few moments before letting a smirk curve his lips. "As though that watered down mutt has a chance against Hinata."

Naruto's response elicited a small snort from Neji. "As loath as I am to agree with anything that pink haired little girl says, she is right. Hinata is too weak to win against anyone. It is her fate to be forever weaker than her opponents."

"And who the hell are you to say what she can and can't do? I have good reason to believe that I know her limits and abilities better than probably anyone else." Naruto returned.

The white eyed boy gave a small smirk. "It is rude to ask for ones name without first giving it."

"It's even worse to insult someone behind their back while her teammates are near, don't you think, Hyuuga Neji?" Naruto's smirk widened as Neji's fell.

As Gai called out the beginning of the match, everyone's attention turned to the two genin. Kiba immediately charged in enthusiastically, lashing out with a wild right that Hinata gracefully dodged. Kiba kept up his assault, blows coming faster, harder, and more recklessly with each miss as Hinata continued to weave between his attacks. Kiba, getting angry with his lack of hits, over extended himself and was immediately hit. Hinata lashed out with a jyuuken blow to Kiba's leg before landing a series of strikes along his other leg and his shoulders, leaving Kiba lying flat out on the ground, unable to move his limbs.

"What was that about Hinata being too weak to win?" Naruto flashed a fanged grin at the stoic Hyuuga.

_With the Jonin_

"What was that about training your students better Kurenai?" Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Hey Gai, how about pitting one of my students up against one of yours?"

"YOSH! That is a great idea Kakashi. I'll pit one of my own precious students against one of your own!"

"How about Sasuke goes then? He's the only one of them that hasn't gone yet."

"Yosh! I will take up this challenge Sensei!" Lee called out enthusiastically.

"Oh Lee!" Gai called, bursting into overdramatic tears.

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The two embraced, forever scarring all present with their unbreakable sunset man-hug genjutsu, the exception being Kakashi who had his face buried in his book as usual. Off to the side, the genin stared on, unable to look away despite the horrible burning sensation the sight was causing them. After a few moments of hugging and crying, Gai separated from Lee and directed him to move to the center of the clearing to begin his fight as Sasuke, who was thanking whatever luck he had that his Sharingan hadn't awakened yet lest the sight of Gai and Lee hugging be forever burned into his memory, moved to face the spandex clad genin.

"Let the match between my youthful student Lee and Kakashi's youthful student Sasuke begin." Gai declared before moving back to give them more room as he had with the two previous fights.

Lee settled into a basic Goken taijutsu stance with a large grin on his face as he waited for Sasuke to make the first move. Taking the initiative, Sasuke charged forward and lashed out with a sweeping kick that Lee leapt over before spinning himself into a heel drop that Sasuke just barely managed to get out of the way of in time. Sasuke lashed out with a straight punch that Lee easily blocked before pushing Sasuke away in an impressive display of arm strength. Lee charged forward, becoming a blur to many of the genin present, before appearing in front of Sasuke with an upward kick that would have connected with Sasuke's chin had he not leaned back and back-flipped a few times before dashing back in and managing to sweep Lee's feet out from under him before sending the green clad boy a short distance back with a backhand.

"Yosh, you are most youthful Sasuke!" Lee yelled before moving at speeds that made him invisible to most of the genin and left him blurred slightly to even Naruto. Sasuke made a mixture between a grunt and a gurgle as Lee's sandaled foot drove itself into his chest, sending him crashing into a tree where he slid down into a sitting position where he just sat there, breathing with a wheeze.

"Yosh, Lee wins." Gai announced even as Sasuke managed to finnaly lever himself to his feet after regaining his breath. Sasuke simply glared, having learned from the occasional encounter with Naruto that challenging an opponent that so far outclasses you was a bad idea.

"Ah, it seems that your students may provide more of a challenge for mine than Asuma's and Kurenai's." Kakashi said as Sasuke made his way back over to the gathered genin.

_With the Genin_

"Looks like even the best of your team can't stand against the weakest of mine." Neji said with a superior smirk.

Naruto raised one eyebrow in amusement. "Where did you get the idea that Sasuke was the strongest member of my team? I can put him down as easily as I would you."

Before Neji could retort, they were distracted by Gai announcing the next match.

"Yosh! The next match will be between Neji and Shino" Gai called out, prompting the two stoic genin to make their way to the center of the clearing. With a quick gesture, Gai started the match.

"You may as well give up now; it is your destiny to fail." Neji said, not even getting into a stance.

"It would be illogical to surrender before the fight has even begun and it is even more illogical to place ones faith in such an idea as fate." Shino said, slowly dispersing his bugs towards Neji in unnoticeable, small groups.

"It seems you have yet to understand the all powerful force that is fate. I will teach you what happens when one attempts to fight their fate." Neji slid into a stance, not bothering to activate his Byakugan against someone he viewed as so far below him.

Neji charged forward, not nearly as quickly as Lee, but still impressive for a genin regardless, and lashed out with a standard juuken strike that Shino calmly evaded using the bare minimum of movement needed. Neji lashed out once more, only for Shino to continue his calm movements that allowed him to just barely doge Neji's assault. Neji's blows begin to come faster and faster, continuously coming closer to Shino with each attack until, finnaly, he managed to land a solid blow, only for Shino to dissolve into a mass of bugs that latched themselves onto Neji and began draining his chakra. Neji attempted to brush the bugs off him, but was unable to keep them off. When he attempted to use juuken, the bugs simply absorbed the chakra and continued feeding. Within a minute, Neji collapsed in exhaustion before the bugs retreated to a tree at the edge of the clearing where Shino dropped from a tree.

"The winner is the youthful Shino!" Gai called out before moving over the Neji and lifting the boy; carrying him over to the other genin and setting him against a tree.

"Hehe, for all that high and mighty talk, you couldn't even beat a rookie genin. You didn't even land a single blow." Naruto snickered at Neji's arrogance induced loss. Neji merely glared in response, too lacking in chakra to even move properly.

"N-naruto-kun, please don't tease Neji-nii-san." Hinata said, drawing Neji's glare to her and prompting her to half hide behind her blond teammate.

Seeing Neji switch his ire to Hinata, Naruto crouched next to him and leaned in close so no one could hear his killing intent laced words to the white eyed teen. "Hyuuga, I'm only going to give you one warning. Lay off Hinata, or I will end you." With that simple threat, Naruto leaned back and gave a close eyed grin, changing his tone to something far more cheerful, but still laced with that subtle killing intent, "Do you understand? I hope you do." With that, Naruto stood up and turned his attention to Sakura and Tenten, who had moved to the center of the clearing while he was threatening Neji.

With a gesture from Gai, and surprisingly few theatrics from Sakura, the two girls began their fight. The fight was short and brutally efficient. Sakura had no chance against the physically superior and more experienced Tenten and was swiftly defeated without the bun haired girl even having to use her weapons prowess.

"Ok! Now that sparring is over why don't you genin sit down and we can tell you all what you did wrong in your fights so you can all improve." At Kakashi's prompting, the genin, team 10 limping slightly and Neji still needing Tenten to help him walk all gathered around him. Once all the genin were seated, Kakashi began to analyze their performances. "Ok, first round. Ino, you really shouldn't have told Shikamaru what do to so loudly. Actually, you shouldn't have needed to do that in the first place, but that doesn't mean you can ignore the fact that you didn't really do anything. Shikamaru, you were too lazy and unmotivated. You didn't do anything until Ino made you. Chouji, you didn't do anything at all, despite the fact that you are the physically strongest member of your team. All in all you need to get some serious motivation and take initiative as well as seriously improve your physical capabilities. Naruto, you had a good plan waiting for your enemies to strike first, but I know you know what they can do and only did that for the shock value that, while such a thing can be helpful on that battlefield to stun your enemy, isn't a habit you want to pick up

"Next round, Kiba, you really need to learn to keep your cool. You rushed right in with no apparent plan other than to overwhelm Hinata and when that didn't work you got increasingly reckless until you gave her an opening to capitalize on. Hinata, you did very well, though I suggest you put a bit of work towards being more aggressive. If you can dodge his attacks that easily, then you can score a hit on him without needing an opening as large as the one you took."

"Lee, you did fine in your match, but you took to long to finish it. Don't hold back against your opponent or it may give them a chance to defeat or kill you. Sasuke, you were too aggressive and lacked the ability to properly defend yourself. You need to work more on fighting defensively. Neji, your fight was actually one of the worst so far. You horribly underestimated your opponent and that let him trap you in a way that you couldn't escape. Shino, you did well, but, from the way you fought, I'm sure you could use some more work in taijutsu. Sakura, your fight was absolutely pathetic. I know Kurenai is very good at genjutsu, so, at very least, you should have been able to use that, but you didn't use anything but taijutsu right up until Tenten beat you. As for Tenten, you clearly rely a great deal on physical abilities and weapons, considering your accuracy with kunai and the couple of other weapons you threw just for the shock factor, so I would suggest learning some genjutsu and maybe some ninjutsu. Now, why don't you all go have an early lunch without us jonin-sensei and get to know each other or something. We'll come find you in about an hour and a half."

This got nods of acceptance from the genin, most of them welcoming the chance to rest and eat. It was only after the genin left that Asuma spoke up, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Ok, spill Kakashi, why are you being so proactive? You've been showing up hours late to pretty much everything for years now, but today you show up only 10 minutes late. Not only that, you decided what the genin were going to do first and even gave some input on who should fight who. Afterwards you take the initiative to tell the genin what they did wrong and where they can improve without any prompting, not to mention that you were the person who suggested this in the first place. You also gave that odd warning regarding Naruto and saying anything that could be considered a threat or insult towards Hinata around him."

Kakashi sighed as he sat cross-legged on the ground, his precious orange book disappearing for the first time since he pulled it out after announcing to the genin that they would be sparring. "Ok, I suppose it's fine for me to tell you. Put simply, Naruto has been on watch since he returned to the village. As you probably know, Naruto disappeared without a trace several years ago and returned with knowledge of basic shinobi arts. We've ruled out the potential of him working for an opposing village which only leaves one viable reason for him having survived in the wilderness at his age and even managing to learn something about being a ninja." Seeing the looks of understanding dawn on his fellow jonin, Kakashi nodded, "Yes, Sandaime-sama has concluded that Naruto has been in contact with the Kyuubi for an undetermined amount of time, presumably at least since he left. Added to this is the fact that 50 villagers were found split cleanly in two at the waist around the same time as Naruto's disappearance. Furthermore, around the time Naruto reappeared, 68 more villagers, all known to have hated Naruto, simply disappeared, as in absolutely no trace of them. To top off everything, Naruto has a unique set of abilities and unusual and powerful weapons that he refuses to explain, claiming them to be a clan secret. And since he's been granted clan status by Hokage-sama for his unique abilities, he has full rights to do so and there's nothing anyone can do about it. This training was set up to give Naruto a chance to get together with other genin and hopefully form friendships with them, which we hope will help negate any influence the Kyuubi has had on him. As for my warning earlier, Naruto has developed an unusual fixation on Hinata, having threatened people on several different occasions because of something they said or did that he perceived as an insult or threat towards her. The most violent of these 'outbursts' has been the C-rank we went on recently. The tyrant who was oppressing the land we were in threatened to rape Hinata or sell her off in slave trade."

The other jonin's faces darkened at this, most particularly Kurenai's, "As you can imagine, that really set off Naruto. He released killing intent that most people twice his age aren't capable of and went on a murderous rampage, killing the tyrant and his men, but that's not even the worst of it. Along side the killing intent was something else, almost like killing intent, but not. It was, as best I can describe it, a deep pervading sense of power and wrongness and the feeling of staring down something that thought of you as no more than an ant, as though I was in the presence of something not human, something I would never be able to fully understand..." Kakashi trailed off here, eyes glazing over as he remembered the terrible feeling of being near something that violates the laws of nature and the universe merely by existing. "Anyway, Sandaime-sama and I hope to help him forge bonds that will keep that power, that… whatever it is that I can't even really describe, from being used against Konoha."

There was a long moment where no one spoke, before Asuma to break the stunned silence. "So... What? Is Naruto not human or something?"

Kakashi shook his head. "That's just it; All of the tests that have been done don't indicate him as anything other than human. Physically speaking, he's as human as they come. The only unusual thing about him is that he heals as an abnormally fast pace, but even that has been explained away as a side effect of the seal. It drains some of Kyuubi's chakra every time Naruto is injured and uses it to help heal him." Kakashi sighed before getting to his feet and stretching to ease out the stiffness that comes from sitting in one position for too long. "Anyway, I'm going to go get something to eat. Remember, everything I just told you is a secret. Don't talk about it around other people and don't tell anyone who doesn't know." Kakashi gave his signature eye-smile and his tone turned light, belying the seriousness of what he said next, "I'd hate to have to kill any of you." With that, the silver haired man disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving three contemplative jonin in an empty clearing.

_Scene Change_

Sasuke was thinking heavily enough that he didn't even hear Ino and Sakura arguing over who he liked more, or Naruto's and Hinata's quiet conversation, or Lee's enthusiastic discussion with the somewhat reluctant Chouji and Shikamaru, or Tenten's attempts to stop Neji from glaring at his unusual blond teammate, or even notice the previously mentioned glares the white eyed boy was sending Naruto. This isn't to say Sasuke didn't think a great deal normally, he actually thought quite a bit about the many tortures he wanted to visit upon Itachi, but that is another matter entirely. It was the nature of his thoughts that was unusual. Ever since his discussion with Hinata about why she helped him despite how cruel he had been to her, which was as much of a defense mechanism to keep people away as it was actual distain, he had been contemplating the meaning behind her words. He had wondered why the Hyuuga clan would consider her kindness a weakness. He was not very kind himself, but one of his mother's defining features was her endless kindness towards others, especially those who were weaker or underprivileged, so he could not consider kindness a weakness. He supposed that her clan could believe it would lead her to hesitate in combat, but he hadn't seen any hesitation in her since the day of the bell test, even when facing down the accomplice of Momochi Zabuza, so he discounted that idea. After a great deal of thought on the matter, both in regards to her words and the eerily familiar smile she gave, Sasuke came to a conclusion just as he finished his lunch. He was going to try to get along with his teammates. They had both long since proved that they wouldn't hold him back and Hinata was always relatively nice to him, even when he was mean to her while Naruto always seemed rather neutral towards him outside of training or when he insulted Hinata around him, a mistake he hadn't made since shortly after they became a team. As such, when the Hyuuga boy, he hadn't bothered to learn his name, insulted his teammates, he turned a glare upon the other boy.

"You should know your place Hyuuga. Everyone here may not know of the Hyuuga clan's politics, but I do and I know what it means for you to cover your forehead. Show your superior respect and be glad my teammate is as kind as she is and has been able to convince Naruto not to disembowel you." Sasuke's tone was a spear of frozen fire that tore through Neji's normal stoicism, simultaneously shocking everyone else at the table.

"What do you know you-?" Neji was cut of when his soft spoken cousin spoke up.

"Neji-nii-san, please be quiet." Her tone was soft, but there was an almost dangerous glint in Hinata's eyes as she came to her teammate's defense, backed by Naruto who wore the same disturbing grin he had when asking Neji earlier if he understood him. Both shocked and slightly scared, Neji snapped his mouth shut and settled for glaring at team seven.

No one said anything for several minutes until their sensei's showed up, Kakashi once again being the first to speak up.

"We're going on a joint mission. Pack for an extended period of time outside the village and meet at the west gate tomorrow at eight AM." That said, the masked man disappeared in the standard puff of smoke that marked a shushin.

_Scene Change_

When Naruto, accompanied by Hinata, arrived at the gate, it was to find the rest of the teams and the sensei's, sans Kakashi, waiting by the gates with packs that were undoubtedly filled with whatever supplies they felt they needed, though the sensei's weren't carrying packs. Naruto assumed that they were using sealing scrolls. Naruto settled on the ground near where Sasuke sat, Hinata sitting on his other side.

It only took a few minutes before Kakashi showed up, his orange book conspicuously absent. "All right everyone. We'll be heading out to Kusa no Kuni to escort their Daimyo to a meeting with the Daimyo of Taki no Kuni where we will guard them along side the Taki Daimyo's guards until the meetings are over and we will escort the Kusa Daimyo back to his country before returning to Konoha. Any questions?"

"Aren't Daimyo guard missions usually left to teams of chunin and jonin? Why are we doing this?" Shikamaru spoke up.

"Normally, yes, only chunin and jonin run missions like this due to the chances of encountering shinobi, but this is a special instance in that we aren't taking this mission because of you all, but more because of us jonin. We are some of the most well known jonin Konoha currently and have been personally requested for this mission and it was decided that we would take you all with us to show you what it's like to run a higher ranking mission. You won't have to worry too much about being attacked though; having us along is more just for the sake of prevention than anything else." Asuma explained, getting nods and murmurs of understanding from the genin.

"All right, let's move out." Kakashi ordered, leaping out of the gates and into the trees, setting a pace the genin could keep up with as he was followed by the genin and his fellow jonin.


End file.
